Chapter 856 - Fakisens Plan (1/2)

As hyperdrive streams of light dashed across the dark cosmic space, the traces left by the Arcane Church fleet in retreat awoke the dynasty’s surveillance buoys one after another, not hiding their movements even a little bit.

Inside the Glorious Sun Grade main ship, the five Beyond Grade As including Sagman and Psyker gathered and looked at the fleet commander, Rogue, whose eyes never shifted away from the star map.

“Planet Lighthouse is at the edge of the Dawn Star Cluster and very close to the desolate universe belt. If we continue to retreat at full speed, we will get out of this security perimeter very soon,” Rogue said with a deep voice.

The transmission of energy and light took time; given the sheer size of the universe, plenty of remote detection methods had delays. Transmitting real-time information through quantum communication technology was one of the more common methods used. However, the universe was way too large. There was no way the dynasty would be able to deploy surveillance buoys in every corner of the cosmic space. The security perimeter usually spread out from the stronghold planet as its center with diminishing density of surveillance buoys as the distance increased.

At this time, the Arcane Church had already escaped to the exterior security perimeter of Planet Lighthouse and was entering deep into the desolate universe belt. With absolutely no time to spare, clearing out the buoys was meaningless; they would be located in the end anyway. Therefore, Rogue did not mind the fact that their route was exposed to the dynasty. After all, he was not going to go straight to the secret stargate.

The plan was to enter stealth mode in an area with little to no buoys in the desolate universe belt so that they could get rid of the dynasty’s direct surveillance. They would then split into hundreds of groups to make detours before heading to the secret stargate.

This way, a large number of the groups would be considered as abandoned. The moment their fleet departed, the location of the secret stargate had shifted. The original secret stargate location was abandoned, but this information was not updated on the star map. The only people who knew about this were the core members such as Rogue and the Beyond Grade As. This was to prevent the other groups from leaking the location of the secret stargate if they were captured by the dynasty.

Of course, these other groups were not completely abandoned; they were smoke screens. When Rogue, the Beyond Grade As, and the core groups successfully escaped, only then would these other groups be told the real location. That way, even if the location of the secret stargate was exposed, the impact would be much smaller. After all, they could destroy the stargate anytime to prevent further damage or even make those groups return from the desolate universe belt—their time was not precious at all.

“Quickly, the risks we’re taking increase every minute we spend in the Flickering World,” Sagman said.

“If all you can say are useless and meaningless things that everyone knows, you’d better stop speaking. Thanks to you, the risks we’re taking now are completely meaningless!” Rogue did not hold back at all. His tone had traces of rage.

He had just reported the battle results to the Bishops, which had earned him a massive scolding. With the thought of his future not being the brightest in mind, he could not help but feel a rage boiling inside him. Hence, he was not in the mood to hold his emotions back toward these Beyond Grade As who had caused this operation to fail.

Getting so bluntly yelled at, Sagman’s skin tightened. He thought about it for a second but did not say anything. It was true that the Beyond Grade A battlefield was what had decided the outcome and led to this failure, so he was indeed somewhat to blame.

The other four did not say anything either. They were now all on the same boat fleeing in the dynasty’s territory, so no one had time to mind Rogue’s disrespect.

Psyker’s face looked the worst. Thinking of the fact that his friend, Dylan, was now in the dynasty’s hands made his mood extremely horrible. He could not be bothered with anything else.

Seeing that no one spoke, Rogue snorted and said, “The dynasty is definitely dispatching troops to block our escape route. However, you need not worry too much; this is just a fake route. Also, most of the dynasty’s fleet nearby went to support Planet Lighthouse, and it will take some time for the more distant strongholds to send out fleets. Therefore, even if we happen to be blocked, we can easily eliminate whoever’s on the way. The only thing we need to worry about is the dynasty’s Beyond Grade As chasing after us. According to the current situation, Tarrokov will wait for the reinforcements to arrive before making moves. Pity, I almost thought we could lure them in and set up a trap…”

While Rogue analyzed the situation, Sagman and the others were discussing the situation privately through psychic communication.

“Given the size of the fleet, we’ll still be just as conspicuous even if we split up. Maybe we should leave the fleet and take mini spaceships. That’s stealthier,” Taylor said.

“We can consider that, but let’s talk about this after the main fleet splits up.”

When fleeing, the survivability and stealth of a Beyond Grade A acting alone far exceeded moving together with the fleet. As individuals with great powers who were not affected by the harsh environment of space, if they randomly hid on a desolate planet, no one would be able to find them.

This was especially true for Ninjia and Taylor, who had mastered forbidden spells. Without the enemies’ interference, their teleportation spells were among the best abilities for escaping.

Rogue was worried that they might be chased by the dynasty’s Beyond Grade As, so he wanted to keep Sagman and the others around. What he did not know was, Sagman and the others were also thinking about using the main fleet as bait to draw the dynasty’s attention.

…

In another direction, the Fallen Ark’s fleet was also retreating at full speed.

Due to the sudden rupture, EsGod’s fleet had cut off contact with the Arcane Church. Without any communication channel, the two of them did not know each other’s whereabouts at all and only focused on escaping on their own.

However, EsGod had one advantage. They had forced their way in from the exterior security perimeter, so they had deliberately destroyed quite a number of surveillance buoys on the way. This had caused some areas to be blind spots, which assisted in their escape.

Inside the main ship’s command room, Fakisen looked away from the star map and turned to the EsGod doppelganger beside him.

EsGod’s main body had already found an enclosed room to undergo evolution, and no one knew how long that would take. Before EsGod started his evolution, he had created some doppelgangers to protect himself and monitor the movement of the fleet.

EsGod was wary of everyone. Even his helpful assistant who had accompanied him for a hundred years, Fakisen was no exception. In times when his main body was the weakest, the only person he really trusted was himself.

“He still doesn’t trust me…”

Fakisen’s spike-filled tongue licked the blood-red metal mask that covered the upper half of his face, making an annoying scratching noise. Air pumped out from his nose like he was sneering.

Right in front of EsGod’s doppelganger, Fakisen lifted his dry brunch-looking four arms. Purple fog flew out from his dark purple skin, forming a sphere in midair.

Then, he summoned a subordinate and gave the orb to him. “Empty an ordinary battleship, remove its energy core and AI system, and leave it as an empty shell. Put this orb inside that spaceship, then abandon it and let it drift around on the path we passed by. The dynasty troops chasing us will discover this spaceship.”

The EsGod doppelganger turned to him and said coldly, “What are you trying to do?”

“Hehe…” Fakisen’s laughter was eerie. “I’m planning to contact the dynasty…”

Bang!

The moment he said that, the EsGod doppelganger immediately grabbed him by his neck and lifted him up, pressing him against the wall.

“Are you selling me out?”

Although his throat was grabbed by EsGod, Fakisen was not afraid at all. Instead, he laughed even louder. “Hahaha, I’m planning to work together with the dynasty. If they can give us information about the Arcane Church, we can send some of our people to intercept them. They’re pawns anyway. We’re the closest to the Arcane Church. With our help, the dynasty will be able to drag the Arcane Church back more efficiently.”

“There’s no need for that,” the EsGod doppelganger said coldly.

“No, there definitely is a need. The dynasty surely wants to fight the Arcane Church more than us. There are many Beyond Grade As over there, which makes them much more valuable. If the dynasty can capture them, the Arcane Church will lose close to half of their Beyond Grade As. The dynasty will not give up such an amazing opportunity to cause damage to the Arcane Church. And when the dynasty puts their focus on the Arcane Church, Your Excellency EsGod, the pressure you face will be much smaller. Hehehe.”

Fakisen’s tone was filled with mockery as he continued, “After fleeing at such a crucial moment, the Arcane Church is definitely going to hold a grudge against us for it. When we return to the Central Galaxy, we’re going to face both the Crimson dynasty and the Arcane Church. If we do this, not only will the dynasty be less furious at us, the Arcane Church will be weakened too. This means that the Beyond Grade As you’ll have to face will be much fewer. Furthermore, if the Arcane Church do suffer such an enormous loss, they probably won’t have chance to come make trouble for us any time soon.”

The EsGod doppelganger asked, “How do I know you’re not going to sell out my location?”