Lord of the Truth

Planet Azakra—

SILENCE

Renara sat upon the imperial throne, as she always did — a figure carved in ritual and tradition, one who vacated that seat only on the rarest of occasions.

In that position, she was not merely a ruler; she was the living emblem of the Empire's might, the embodiment of its unshakable will and sovereign dominance.

Her presence alone could once bend the pride of lords, steady the fears of soldiers, and remind every courtier within sight that the Empire's heart still beat from this very hall.

But today… today the vast chamber felt alien.

The towering pillars, draped in shadows; the cold, muted gleam of the inlaid floor; the high, echoing arches that once amplified the grandeur of her voice — all of it had been hollowed by something unseen.

The hall's solitary stillness pressed down like a suffocating weight, the darkness seeming to draw closer with every passing second.

Renara's posture no longer radiated the untouchable majesty that had been her signature.

The steel in her gaze had dulled, the invisible crown of pride that she wore in her bearing had slipped, and the imperial grandeur that once clung to her every gesture had faded into something frail… something mortal.

She leaned forward ever so slightly, resting her forehead against both hands as though holding her skull together would keep her thoughts from scattering.

Her face bore neither the commanding strength of a ruler nor even the wounded dignity of the wronged — it showed only a raw, exhausted weariness.

Her aura wavered like a candle's flame in a draft.

Everything about her, from the slump of her shoulders to the heavy stillness in the air, seemed to whisper a single, merciless truth:

Defeat.

The silence stretched on — not the calm silence of peace, but the aching, heavy silence that follows a mortal wound.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she breathed out words that seemed almost reluctant to leave her lips.

"Deposed? I… have been deposed?"

A short distance away, in the penumbra between shadow and faint light, stood an elderly man.

Seven long, silken fox tails swayed subtly behind him, the only movement in the stillness.

He kept both hands folded with ceremonial precision before his abdomen, his spine perfectly straight in a posture of absolute respect.

The old man's head dipped in a slow nod.

"Unfortunately… the decision of the Nine Halls Senate is final."

Renara's head jerked slightly, her eyes widening as though trying to reject the meaning in his words.

"The Nine Halls Senate declared rebellion… and removed me from the throne?!" she repeated, as if speaking the absurdity aloud might reveal some hidden flaw in it.

The disbelief in her tone was raw, jagged, almost childlike in its nakedness.

Her shock ran deep — perhaps deeper than any blow she had suffered in her reign.

"I was the last Remaining Nexus state in the Empire… the final anchor in our power's heart — and yet they no longer have need of me?!"

Her lineage was no ordinary royal claim.

Her great-grandfather had been the one chosen — worthy — of the Nine-Element Fox blood, a gift bestowed by none other than the feral and untamed Zavaros Galaxy.

He had been the first to be infused with that rare, burning essence; the founder of their bloodline; the architect who forged the Nine Paths Empire from ambition and ash.

From that moment on, the imperial line had passed the throne down generation after generation, an unbroken chain of heirs bound not just by blood but by destiny itself, until it rested upon her shoulders.

It was not an exaggeration to say that they were the Empire.

Its foundation was their creation, its survival their burden, its name inseparable from their own.

And now she was being… removed?

Was such a thing even conceivable?

"…This is only a temporary measure to save what can still be saved. I ask for Your Majesty's understanding," the old man said at last, his tone polite, even careful.

But his eyes betrayed nothing — no pity, no regret, not even the pretense of personal concern.

Renara's mind drifted, unbidden, to the chain of events that had led them here.

Decades ago, the Empire had made a choice so staggeringly foolish that it would forever stain the annals of the Nine Paths Empire's history.

A decision that would be whispered about in council chambers and spat upon by historians for centuries to come.

She — the Empress — had severed ties with their most powerful allies: the humans.

These warriors had fought on three separate fronts for the Empire, holding back enemies the Nine Paths legions themselves were too stretched to face.

And yet… she had declared them rebels.

The consequences were instant, and devastating.

Overnight, those same humans proclaimed the birth of the Multi-Planetary Cradle Empire.

Their Emperor was no mere figurehead — he was a high-level Nexus state, one whose raw power eclipsed Renara's own without question.

And this new empire did not rise in isolation.

It emerged atop the shattered remains of most worlds belonging to the Iron Boar Empire — worlds the Nine Paths Empire had once counted as buffers, as pawns, as secure holdings.

Among them was Orlando, a planet swollen with natural resources, long under the Nine Paths Empire's dominion.

Even if Orlando were ignored — the wound was deeper.

The territory claimed by the Multi-Planetary Cradle Empire lay within the very same star cluster as the Nine Paths Empire.

Which meant two unshakable truths:

First — Renara's inexplicable decision had placed a formidable new rival directly at their doorstep, a neighbor whose throne might as well sit on the Empire's very lap.

Second — while the Cradle Empire had been gracious enough to ignore the insult of being branded rebels, and had refrained from striking when they had every justification to do so…

Their mere existence was already a catastrophe in the making.

The Nine Paths Multi-Planetary Empire had already laid bare its fragility to the galaxy when it made the ill-fated, almost desperate decision to formally declare rebellion. That singular act had already shaken confidence in their stability, but fate seemed determined to underscore their vulnerability — for not long after, a formidable and ambitious new neighbor rose up right on their very doorstep.

Worse still, the Empire suffered the loss of one of its most enigmatic and fearsome assets: the legendary Black-Gold Army. For decades, this mysterious legion had stood as both shield and sword, a silent but unyielding deterrent to any who dared dream of striking at them. Enemies and rivals alike had always hesitated, had always thought a hundred times over before venturing too close, for no one could say for certain who commanded this army or from where its loyalty truly flowed. That very uncertainty was a weapon — one perhaps more potent than the army's strength itself.

But now, the veil of mystery had been torn away. Its master had stepped into the light, openly claiming his identity and authority, and had gone so far as to found an entirely new empire under his banner. With the revelation of the Black-Gold Army's true allegiance, that precious aura of uncertainty — the cloak of enigma that had protected the Nine Paths — was gone, swept away in a single moment.

And with the disappearance of that mystery, old ledgers began to reopen…

Across the great expanse of space, whispers became reminders, and reminders became accusations revived. Entire star systems suddenly recalled the long-standing charges leveled against the Nine Paths Multi-Planetary Empire — that they possessed a rare and dangerous merged law, a power coveted by all. They remembered the massive, almost apocalyptic coalition strike that had once been prepared against them, led by none other than the ruthless Twilight Spectrum Empire. That campaign had been halted only because the human army — the very same force they had later cast aside — had intervened to block it.

Now, with the Black-Gold Army gone and its master an open rival, that old plan did not merely resurface — it was brought back to life with renewed hunger. And this time, the galaxy wasted no time. Within a mere five years of the Cradle Empire's founding, the strike was not just discussed — it was executed.

A war of staggering scale erupted. The Nine Paths Multi-Planetary Empire found itself under simultaneous attack on dozens of planets. Every neighboring realm and every opportunistic power lunged to seize the spoils, each desperate to carve away the largest piece of territory and, above all, to be the one to claim the newly exposed integrated law.

Needless to say, the Nine Paths could not withstand such a coordinated storm. Within only a few months, they had lost ten planets. And the bleeding did not stop — world after world fell away as the relentless tide closed in.

And yet, in a strange twist of irony, the sector's gaze was drawn to the Multi-Planetary Cradle Empire during that same period. They, too, were under siege — attacked by a massive coalition of six empires, each intent on crushing them before they could grow any stronger. But instead of buckling, they held firm. They did not yield a single world. In fact, rumors began to spread — tantalizing, almost impossible rumors — that during that very campaign, they were on the brink of capturing a planet from the coalition itself.

Back within the Nine Paths, the Nine Halls Senate could no longer contain its fury. The great chamber rang with outrage as the Senators demanded Renara account for the disaster unfolding around them. Why, they asked, was the entire star field converging on them like predators to a wounded beast? Why was everything their ancestors had built over lifetimes being stripped away, piece by piece, in a matter of months?

Their demand was clear — she had to re-establish ties with the Multi-Planetary Cradle Empire immediately, before there was nothing left to save.

Renara obeyed — or at least, she tried. She sent a private and urgent message to Robin himself. Days passed. Weeks. No reply came. She could not say if he had chosen to ignore her entirely or if he had never even seen the message. The truth was irrelevant — the outcome was the same: silence.

Determined, she took the next step. She dispatched official envoys to the Cradle Empire with a formal request for negotiations and possible support. The reply they returned with was baffling. There was no refusal… but no acceptance either. Only a polite but final instruction: "Now is not the right time. You must leave."

The Senate's pressure intensified, becoming almost unbearable. Finally, Renara summoned her sister, the one who had, from the start, encouraged this entire course of action — the one who had insisted that the Cradle Empire's break was not final, that it was impossible for them to truly separate, and that they would, in time, come crawling back to the Nine Paths in supplication. Renara ordered her to go in person to the Cradle Empire, to negotiate directly, to fix the catastrophe that now threatened to end them.

But her sister refused.

Their exchange became a heated clash — a battle of blame as much as words. Her sister accused Renara outright of being the cause of their plight, claiming she was shielding Robin Burton out of misplaced loyalty or weakness.

She argued that if Renara had simply threatened the Cradle Empire's leadership with revealing his identity — and, more damning still, exposing the secret of Nihari — then Robin would have been bound to her will, no more than a ring she could wear upon her finger.