"Who goes there? By what right do you dare trespass upon the sacred domain of the Bear God's cult, disturbing the Bear God's slumber?"
Though the leader spoke in challenge, the wooden staff in his hand was already shining with a dazzling ice-blue radiance.
Dozens of ice lances, each more than a foot long, materialized out of the void and floated before him, their gleaming tips all aimed squarely at Kaido.
One wrong word in reply, and Kaido would be blasted apart in an instant by this frozen barrage.
But Kaido had no intention of answering. He gave a disdainful snort and sneered:
"Yapping watchdogs… kill them all!"
Before his words had even finished, the Beast Battalion charged.
It was as though they were not the ones encircled and at a disadvantage of terrain, but rather the Bear God cultists, who had lain in wait here all along.
In an instant, steel and sorcery clashed, and battle was joined!
This detachment of the Bear God's followers was clearly elite among elites, entrusted with guarding their deity's final line of defense. Each individual radiated formidable strength.
Nearly a third of them were mages like their leader, evenly spaced around the circle of encirclement.
At the very moment of contact, those mages raised their staves in unison, conjuring a storm of ice lances and frozen arrows, which rained down on the Beast Battalion's vanguard.
Meanwhile, the other warriors hefted massive axes and charged forward. Though clad in no armor, as they rushed, their bodies began to blaze with a frigid glow.
In moments, each was encased in a thick suit of glacial armor, its surface shimmering with flowing cold light and pulsing faintly with psychic magic.
It was plain that these armors, forged entirely from psionic force, offered defenses far beyond ordinary metal plate.
With no fear, the cult's warriors crashed into the Beast Battalion. The impacts boomed dully, as enchanted axes slammed against particle chainblades in brutal, furious combat.
And yet, these seemingly primitive weapons and armors gave no ground.
Ice lances and enchanted axes could not pierce the Beast Battalion's standardized armor, and likewise, particle chainblades could not break through the cult warriors' glacial wards.
The Beast Battalion, which had smashed through the human legions' lines in a single stroke, now found themselves locked in place—dragged into a contest of endurance by this hybrid force of mages and ice-armored warriors.
Seeing this, Kaido—so arrogant only moments ago—began to grow uneasy. Lifting his head, he shouted:
"Lord Roya! Strike them down! The Bear God's essence lies just ahead—claim it quickly, before time breeds misfortune!"
His cry rang out with such desperate earnestness that even the fluctuations of his spirit revealed only one conclusion:
This man… he truly believes he is helping me obtain this so-called Bear God's essence of power?
Roya's brow furrowed slightly. It seemed Kaido, like the Violet Lightning God Dragon before him, had also been deceived by some Daemon of Tzeentch masquerading as Roya himself.
At this close range, after scrutinizing Kaido and the Beast Battalion with full perception for such a long time, Roya could detect not the faintest trace of chaotic corruption.
To be corrupted by the Chaos Gods and betray one's kind—that was one matter.
But to be blinded and misled into error by a Daemon of Tzeentch—that was another entirely.
In any case, I must end this pointless battle first.
Casting a glance at Kaido, Roya's spirit flared, and he descended straight down from the skies.
As he landed, a tremendous wave of psychic force radiated outward, suppressing the turbulent spiritual auras of both the Beast Battalion and the Bear God's followers.
Stripped of psionic support, and with their fighting wills crushed, both sides immediately broke off combat, falling back to re-form their ranks.
Even so, the Bear God's warriors maintained their encirclement of the Beast Battalion.
The leader who had spoken first now wore a grim expression. The power Roya displayed was already far beyond anything he could hope to resist. All he could do was pray silently—that this being before him was not a Chaos Daemon coveting the Bear God's power.
Roa, however, spared not even a glance for Kaido. His voice was cold as he commanded:
"Kaido. Withdraw at once. Lead the Beast Battalion to rejoin Im with all speed. Fall back and hold the Primal Star."
He was about to turn to negotiate with the cult's leader when Kaido suddenly spoke, voice low and sinister:
"Lord Roya… does it not strike you as strange? How I was able to return from the Wasteland Expanse to a starfield this close to Oceanus Star in so short a time?"
At this open act of betrayal, Roya's heart tightened. He instantly realized—the situation was far worse than he had foreseen.
Kaido's aberrant behavior, together with the massive clash of millions unfolding nearby, could not possibly be the work of some lesser Daemon of Tzeentch.
This was the design of Tzeentch himself.
Unless the Chaos God had tampered with Kaido personally, there was no way Roya could still sense no taint of chaos upon him even now.
A chilling suspicion took hold in Roya's mind: from the moment he had received Oceanic Star's distress signal, he had been ensnared in a grand, layered scheme of Tzeentch's own weaving.
And even now—he still could not fathom the true purpose of such an elaborate, star-spanning plot!
If Tzeentch's only goal was to seize his body and spirit, there was no need for such trouble. He could have erased Roya's consciousness back on Pirate Star with ease.
"You… what is it you truly want?"
Though his heart surged with stormy turmoil, Roya's bearing grew only calmer.
Turning fully to face Kaido, he addressed him as though confronting Tzeentch himself, voice like ice:
"What do you seek?"
Roya was certain that though the one grinning before him was indeed Kaido in body, part of his being now belonged to Tzeentch. Facing Kaido was no different from facing the Chaos God himself.
Kaido chuckled darkly.
"Lord Roya, I made it plain from the moment you descended: I am here to help you seize Ursun's essence of power!"
"This so-called Bear God is already at death's door. If you do not draw out his essence while he yet lives—if you do not drain his most precious Bear God's blood—then once he dies, the essence will swiftly dissipate, and the divine blood will rot and spoil, losing all value."
"Lord Roya, the very opportunity for you to ascend—truly ascend—and become the God-Emperor of the galaxy itself, is about to slip through your fingers. Are you truly unmoved?"
"Or is it that you find this gift of mine—so carefully prepared for you—still not loyal enough?"
"To fool the masses, to toy with their faith, to stage some hollow apotheosis—that can never compare to the authenticity of godhood attained through sheer force of seized power! Don't you agree, Lord Roya?"