CHAPTER 221: CH-217 ANCIENT TEXTS ..... AND THE URGENCY

Meanwhile, aboard the first battle fleet’s flagship Eclipse Warth, Grand Admiral Ezra was tying up strategic loose ends with his right- and left-hand men, Sylas and Lucian, along with several other admirals and rear admirals who had joined via their own ships. Though not physically present on the Eclipse Warth, their holo-projections flickered around the command chamber.

At the center of the room lay a massive holographic table, projecting the image of a particular star system marked as "low category." It was the Berlon System, named after an ancient warrior of the Minotaur clan.

What made the system notable was its wealth in habitable worlds. Unlike most, Berlon was considered an unnatural anomaly—it housed four habitable planets, each with conditions surpassing those of Earth. Beyond these, several other planets showed promise for future terraforming.

Yet that was not why Ezra and his council were discussing it so intently. The Berlon System had been designated as their first target—one they were to strike, capture, and secure in a single decisive blow.

From there, it would serve as the fleet’s forward base of operations, a launching point for the rest of their campaign.

But there were hurdles they needed to analyze. From the intelligence recovered off the Minotaur flagship Taurus Prime, they knew the Berlon System held more than three Arcane-class Tier-2 Star Fortresses, in addition to a fleet of over ten thousand Arcane-class Tier-2 warships stationed there. This force represented the combined military strength of the Minotaur clan’s noble houses.

Though considered a low-priority system to the Void Fleet, it was far from unimportant to the Minotaur clan. Nearly twenty billion Minotaurs lived on each of its four habitable planets—an astronomical population by any standard—making the system vital to protect.

That was why the Minotaurs had entrenched it with such heavy defenses. Beyond the star fortresses and the fleet, the four habitable worlds bristled with planetary defense systems, and even the eight barren worlds had been outfitted with installations. The Berlon System was a fortress in its own right—highly defended, formidable to attack, and impossible to take in a single sweeping strike.

That was the thought weighing on Ezra’s mind when his left-hand man, Sylas, spoke.

"I think we should directly take out those three Star Fortresses first. By doing so, we can prevent anyone in this system from reaching out to others for support—or even relaying that they’ve been attacked. Once that’s done, we can take our time eliminating the fleets of both the military and the noble houses of the Minotaur clan."

He finished his proposal and looked toward Grand Admiral Ezra, then toward Fleet Admiral Lucian, Ezra’s right-hand man.

Ezra caught the glance and, before answering Sylas, turned to Lucian—Fleet Admiral of the Second Battle Division of the First Battle Fleet. Lucian understood immediately and voiced his thoughts.

"I think what Sylas is proposing is as good a plan as any. It shouldn’t be troublesome," he said plainly.

Ezra nodded. "Yes... troublesome is a good choice of words, as always. For what we fear is not the Minotaur, Or anyone else—but it will be troublesome if we don’t deal with their communication channels quickly, or else it could become troublesome for both us and the others.

Both fleet admirals and the other assembled officers nodded in agreement. They all knew they weren’t the only ones involved in this campaign—any mistake, any unnecessary trouble, could harm others and jeopardize the mission as a whole.

"So it’s decided," Ezra said firmly. "I leave the Star Fortresses to you, Fleet Admiral Sylas, and to your First Division. Handle them exactly as you’ve laid out."

He paused, fixing his gaze on Sylas.

"With confidence," Sylas replied. "Yes, Grand Admiral—you won’t be disappointed."

Ezra gave a short nod, satisfied, then turned to the others and began assigning tasks. Fleet Admiral Lucian was ordered to counter and swiftly subdue the Minotaur fleet positioned in-system with his Second Division.

Four other admirals, along with several rear admirals, were tasked with dismantling the defensive systems on the four habitable planets—and on the six dead worlds as well—as quickly as possible, while also disrupting all communication equipment across the system.

[Basic info of the fleet and their division: One fleet for now is composed of 10,000 ships (if you want, I can provide the exact figures of which ships make up these 10,000). Each fleet will be divided into two divisions, commanded by the left and right-hand men of a Grand Admiral. These officers hold the position of Fleet Admiral and each command one division from the fleet. Each division consists of 3,000 ships, with one Oblivion-class flagship acting as the lead ship for each fleet.]

And it was only Ezra and his First Fleet that were preparing for the small battle ahead before the bigger one began. Other than the likes of Elsa, Ryn, and the other Grand Admirals with their fleets, who were doing the same since they shared the same plans. But while they were carefully planning ahead with the information they had gathered from the Minotaur Clan, that intelligence was only half right...

They were only half right, as they would soon discover. And when they did—including Ezra and the other six Grand Admirals—they wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What they will found would definitely frustrate them, without question... and would complicate some thing and their mission.

Meanwhile, conditions outside only worsened for the Star Empire and its allies. More than ten galactic days had passed, yet the space around the Sol/Holy Region still had not stabilized. On top of that, fleets of the Dark Elven Empire, the Mountain Dwarf Clan, the Forgers’ Guild, and the Alchemy Association were steadily advancing toward the northern galactic rim—where both the Star Empire’s fleet and the Sol/Holy Region lay.

As they drew nearer, their previously scattered squadrons began merging, slowly reforming into full fleets once again. Alongside this, growing rumors and already whispered suspicions were surfacing into the open, drawing the attention of many forces across the galaxy.

Some of these forces, even Tier-1 powers, could no longer sit still. They too began to move—because they had uncovered something long buried in the ancestral records of their lineages.

When the ancient powers of the galaxy turned to their archives, trying to make sense of why guilds, associations, and even three Tier-1 powers were moving in unison, they unearthed a revelation that shook them to the core.

For hidden in those records was mention of the northern galactic rim—a place long marked as a forbidden zone. Such zones, though rare, were scattered across the galaxy, each with its own legends explaining its existence. But unlike the others, the forbidden zone in the northern rim had no legend, no tale to explain its formation. Only silence.

But when the ancient records left behind by the ancestors of these older powers—civilizations that had endured for millions of years—were carefully studied, the truth emerged.

They discovered the reason why there was no mention of this forbidden place. And it was shocking. The records spoke of powers that did not belong to this galaxy. For reasons unclear in the fragmented texts, those outsiders had once attacked the region—referred to in the records as the Ancient Holy Region.

That phrase alone—Ancient Holy Region—shook the elders who read it.

That phrase alone—Ancient Holy Region—shook the elders who read it. After all, they knew what it meant... Ancient Holy Regions were far more precious than the current Holy Regions. They had existed since the very beginning of the universe and were not formed afterward. Slowly, as the universe and galaxies accumulated excess mana and other unknown elements beyond their understanding, the Ancient Holy Regions endured.

While they did not know exactly what an Ancient Holy Region represented—since anything related to it was concealed by the three giants of this galaxy, beings even beyond the super-tier powers—they knew one thing: the Ancient Holy Regions were far more valuable than simple Holy Regions.

After all, they contained something so great that even those three powers chose to hide it from the rest of the galaxies... which only proved their immeasurable importance.

And even though they didn’t know exactly what it could be, they knew it was something valuable, and soon greed began to overtake these older powers. After all, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and they all wanted it for themselves.

Some thought—and even said aloud—that this must be why those five powers went to such great lengths to hide things, huh... Others remarked, ’If I were in their shoes, I would have done the same. After all, if it is something that important, I’d want to hide it too—until it was mine.’ But before their greed and urges could fully overtake them, most fell silent again and continued poring through the ancient records of their ancestors.

The records went on to describe a war, one in which these extragalactic powers clashed with whatever civilization had once thrived there. In the end, the inhabitants of the Ancient Holy Region were defeated. And then, by mistake—or perhaps by cruel design—that holy realm was sealed away by a demonic artifact.