Soul Barrier, Showdown!

Is this the restricted area?

As Lister looked around, Killing Intent Wave rapidly spread.

Neither the Arcane Civilization nor any of the other civilizations encountered during the mission had any so-called forbidden zones.

Even though his own Merrick Civilization, had restrictions in the Merrick Castle area, it couldn't really be called a forbidden zone.

The first time I actually heard of restricted areas was when Quint went to the Federal Parliament last time that Leviathan's Third Governing Star, Akzi Star, had such restricted areas.

Unexpectedly, the Beta Civilization also existed, and it was located within this most central, First Governing Star.

Upon closer inspection, however, it was quite puzzling; the space wasn't very large.

Piles of rocks were everywhere, and not even a blade of grass could be seen; it was just an ordinary, desolate place.

The only thing we know for sure is that this space is indeed limited; at the very least, Killing Intent Perception cannot penetrate it.

The portal behind them had vanished.

There was an acquaintance in front of him, with an ordinary appearance and not a particularly strong physique, but rather an impressive aura.

He was wearing the same black Federation combat uniform as Lister, the only difference being their shoulder insignia.

One is a major general, and the other is a general.

"General Vidal, it's been a long time."

"Are you in charge of the advancement of our Merrick Civilization?"

Lister's doubts deepened at the current situation.

This desolate location didn't seem like the usual residence of Vidal, making any discussion of civilizational advancement in this setting even more ridiculous.

Especially those fixed, unwavering eyes of the other person—they held admiration, but even more so, they were filled with fervor!

Lister was very familiar with that look in his eyes, because he had it himself in the past, and so had the players.

That's the look in their eyes when facing their best prey!

In an instant, Lister attempted to reopen the spatial passage.

"Notification: Advanced life form Lister Merrick, your authority level on Beta Star (the First Governing Star) has been downgraded to Level F (eligible for expulsion at any time)..."

Really!

In an instant, Lister realized that he was being watched.

Unexpectedly, the other party did not act as he had anticipated, but instead chose to attack the moment he completed his fourth evolution and broke through to become Overlord Tier.

Hehe~!

"Lister, it's been a long time."

"In just a few years, you've already become a major general and entered the ranks of the Hegemon. You truly are the Galactic Federation's greatest genius in nearly ten thousand years!"

Vidal exchanged pleasantries with him, feigning calmness.

However, since they are all Hegemon, their perception is far superior to that of ordinary people.

He had no intention of fooling Lister; his already delighted face now held an even more ruthless glint.

"Don't even think about it. I granted you those permissions and then revoked them."

"So... Admiral Vidal, are you the only one here today?"

Lister's expression remained calm throughout.

Although today's events were somewhat unexpected, they were not the siege he had feared most.

The Killing Intent Wave sensed that Vidal was the only person in this space, so he was naturally fearless.

Don't worry, I'm all alone today.

"Looks like you guessed something a long time ago!"

Vidal looked at Lister with a flippant expression.

Lister's calm demeanor at that moment was somewhat unexpected.

"Who told you that? Admiral Boren?"

"No, if Boren had revealed it, you wouldn't have been able to come today."

"Could it be Enel Quick...?"

"That's not right either. You weren't even at Arcane Civilization before he died."

There was no other meaning in his words; it was simply curiosity and speculation.

Lister frowned slightly in surprise when Enrique Quirk was mentioned.

This, in Vidal's eyes, confirmed Lister's source of information.

"It really is Enel Quirk?"

"You found some information he left behind from the past, didn't you?"

Although Lister had never met Enrique, he had heard of the man's name before.

The reason is simple: he was originally on the list of Quasi-Hegemon.

A former member of the Federation Government's House of Representatives, belonging to the Intelligent Machine Civilization, and has been wanted by the authorities.

Originally ranked below Ailan, the Intelligent Machine Civilization was also the most promising civilization in the original Federation to become a new Level 4 civilization.

Now, according to Vidal, this Enel Quirk is already dead?

"Never mind, it doesn't matter whether you heard the news or not."

"Now that we've stepped into this forbidden zone, only one of us can leave!"

After speaking, Vidal took out a gray, misty sphere.

Lister swiftly gripped the Shadowless Blade in his hand.

Before he could make a move, a massive surge of special energy was suddenly aroused in the space.

This energy felt familiar to him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

As the energy within the space surged and spread, like a raging torrent, it invisibly permeated his body.

Finally, he sensed it!

This was the feeling he had in the soul space; if nothing unexpected happened, this power should be the power of the soul.

The surge of energy grew exponentially; one second you could feel it, and the next it had spread and covered the entire desolate space.

Suddenly, a sense of mission, calling out from within, came over me.

The next instant, the entire desolate space suddenly changed.

Lister felt the space before him suddenly Twist, as if the barren rocks around him were being torn apart by an invisible hand.

Instead, a chaotic world of gray fog appeared.

The ground beneath my feet was no longer solid rock, but a void churning with black ripples, as if I were treading on a bottomless sea of souls.

At the edge of the space, several relatively intact corpses could still be seen.

"Notification: You have been summoned by Soul Barrier, resisting... Due to your current soul strength exceeding 50 points, you are unable to break free from the summons and have failed to resist."

"Notification: You have entered Soul Barrier. This is a special barrier zone constructed with soul power, where space and time are completely locked, allowing for the absorption of special soul power."

At the same time, the Merrick Civilization also experienced changes.

The main force of the Seventh Army's Central Group has entered the Merrick Civilization field.

They even directly invaded the Merrick Civilization's directly controlled star system, completely blockading it with a total of seven large ships and hundreds of medium-sized ships.

Meanwhile, the Merrick Government also received a special notification from the Galactic Federation.

"Galactic Federation Emergency Notice: Following a resolution of the Federal Parliament, the Merrick Civilization's advancement process is suspended immediately due to suspected violations of the 'Level Four Civilization Advancement Safety Regulations.' The star system to which this civilization belongs is under temporary control, and its directly administered star system is completely sealed off, prohibiting the passage of any unauthorized fleets. Specific conditions for lifting the lockdown will be announced separately after review."

"Urgent Notice: The Federation Channel has been blocked, and the teleportation array has been disconnected."

"Lord Wang Yue... what happened? Has something happened to Lister?"

Quint looked at the series of restriction notices sent to him and was at a loss for what to do.

How could it possibly violate the "Level Four Civilization Advancement Safety Regulations"?

Or rather, where in the Galactic Federation has such a regulation?

He should have been looking forward to advancing to a Level 4 civilization, but these past two days he's been discussing the celebration arrangements with Tim.

Once the actual promotion is in place, a series of political reforms and so on should be implemented.

Who knew the news would be like this... It seems the Merrick Civilization has been completely cut off by the Galactic Federation.

"Don't rush. Notify Sannand to assemble the warships and be ready for battle at any time!"

The more critical the situation, the calmer Wang Yue remained.

She encountered countless dangers and suspicions along the way.

Such unusual circumstances were somewhat anticipated, given Lister's instructions before his departure.

She quickly changed her identity, attempting to communicate with the outside world using Berry's and her status as a federal congressman.

Unfortunately, all attempts were in vain.

Whether it's information channels or physical space channels, the entire Galactic Federation prohibits and blocks them across the entire star field, completely disregarding anyone within the Merrick Civilization.

At the same moment, the Arcane Civilization, the Yalan Civilization, and other allied civilizations also immediately noticed something amiss.

After several attempts to contact them, there was still no response.

Only the cold, impersonal federal notification was issued.

"Notice: The Merrick Civilization has violated the Federation Constitution. All external contact is suspended immediately. Please refrain from violating constitutional provisions."

Compared to the Merrick Civilization itself, the information received by other civilizations was much simpler, and even the names of the regulations themselves were not included.

They were unaware that Lister had risen to the Hegemon, and they could not fathom the true nature of the Galactic Federation.

For the time being, all we could do was wait and see, but fortunately, we had Lister, this Quasi-Hegemon, in the game.

There were no unusual changes in the Galactic Federation's database.

Many civilizations were puzzled by this, but not too worried.

Welcome to the Soul Barrier.

Inside the Soul Barrier, Vidal let out a long sigh of relief.

The smile faded from his face, his emotions gradually relaxed, and he no longer concealed anything.

Within the perception of the Killing Intent Wave, the hidden malice was immediately revealed and amplified.

[Target discovered: Vidal Martin (General of the Federation Military District, Beta Civilization)]

[Level: Lv224]

[Occupation: Space-Time Telekinesis (Telekinesis-based)]

[Health Points: 15090331/15090331]

[Stamina:5564350/5564350]

[Attributes: Strength 399, Intelligence 404, Stamina 401, Agility 421]

[Skill:

Abyss Connection (SSS) LV224: Can link to the Endless Abyss, allowing manipulation of Abyss energy to a certain extent...???

Spacetime Manipulation (SS) LV220: Allows for some manipulation of spacetime.

Telekinetic Manifestation (SS) LV220:??

...]

[Overall Rating: S (Overlord Tier)]

In the past, the difference in rank was too great to detect, but today we can finally get a glimpse of the other party's true strength.

His rank is 23, which is three ranks higher than his.

It has many passive abilities, at least all four main attributes are boosted by passives, although they are not yet at the maximum level.

However, in terms of basic attributes alone, Lister is slightly inferior to his opponent.

And in terms of skills, there are even SSS-level skills.

The name Abyss Connection immediately reminded Lister of the conscription mission from a few years ago.

During the siege of the Church of Mechanical Truth civilization, there was an endless abyss beneath their feet, and a colossal hand formed from the convergence of energy from that abyss.

However, this skill is not currently in use.

An aura of utter Destruction erupted from his body without reservation, pressing down on Lister.

Lister remained completely unfazed by this.

A Killing Intent Wave instantly locked onto the opponent, and his own extreme killing intent also erupted.

After the soul transformed into Saber Soul, the killing intent seemed to have been baptized.

Pure, bloody!

Even when facing Vidal, who was three levels higher than him, he was not at a disadvantage in terms of sheer aura.

This even put considerable pressure on Vidal.

At this moment, he had already put on the black boxing gloves, and his expression was completely serious, but a hint of disbelief could not be ignored.

"I never imagined that a mere martial arts department could produce a genius like you!"

"Having just entered the Hegemon rank, he can already advance to rank 20."

"Fortunately, Lord Sailuo made a decisive move, otherwise... a genius like you might really have become the next Boren!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Vidal clashed his fists together.

The space within the Soul Barrier instantly solidified, and pressure began to compress inwards from both sides of Lister.

"Attacked: Compressed by spatial dimensions, the Robust Soul and Resolute Heart... have taken effect, granting immunity to 69.45% of damage."

Damage taken -79932 points, ignore defense damage -177323 points, true damage -36028 points.

Dizziness, stiffness... effects (already immune)

A simple spatial manipulation cost him 300,000 health points.

As Lister withstood the blow, his figure immediately closed in.

Having finally advanced to the Fourth Advancement, even using Flash feels more fluid and graceful.

His body's sensitivity to spatial stimuli has greatly increased, and the Shadowless Blade in his hand is now more perfectly attuned to his body.

Holding the knife in both hands, he slashed diagonally straight at Vidal without any hesitation.

Seeing this, the other party showed no fear.

He was poised and ready, waiting for Lister to close in before unleashing a punch.

With the aid of spatial manipulation, the entire space in front of Lister was Twist and shattered by the punch.

The force of the punch traveled through the Shadowless Blade and struck his entire body.

This was much harsher than the last one.

"Attacked: Subjected to spatial dimensional compression,... Damage taken -169932 points, Ignore defense damage -437323 points, True damage -102028 points."

As Lister took the punch, the Shadowless Blade also struck his opponent's gauntlets.

A deep scratch appeared on the jet-black boxing glove, but it was immediately repaired and smoothed out in the next moment.

However, the damage from this strike cannot be prevented.

Attack: Deals -35021 damage, ignores defense -49393 damage, total true damage -2787333 points

The two clashed head-on without holding back, Vidal naturally came out worse off.

Lister has now fully entered the peak of his technically proficient career.

Even though the opponent's rank was three ranks lower, the damage from this strike was more than four times that of the opponent's.

This is still his first attack form; a basic attack is essentially his ultimate move.

Lister was very satisfied with his attack. If he could enter the second stage, he was confident that he could kill his opponent with a single strike.

At this moment, the battle with Vidal was no longer a concern.

What he's more worried about now is whether, after the battle, if he really manages to wipe out Vidal in this space today, the rest of the galactic Hegemon will be besieging him from the outside.

"This is impossible!!"

Vidal, who had been forced back dozens of meters by a single strike, looked on incredulously.

He knew that Lister was a formidable talent, a true genius.

But who wasn't a genius like that back then?

Before becoming a Hegemon, Vidal himself was also a genius highly praised by the Galactic Federation and never thought he was inferior to Lister.

Especially considering the three-tier difference in rank, he should have been crushing his opponent!

It was only after this clash that he realized he was actually no match for his opponent in a simple head-on confrontation.

In an instant, Lord Sailuo's words rang in his ears.

The events surrounding the former Hegemon of He'er echoed in my mind.

The next moment, Vidal's expression became even more serious, and at the same time, he took out the gray mist-like sphere from his hand again.