Yu Lian looked down at the Franmor standing stock-still in the middle of the courtyard. The man stared up at Yu Lian, suspended high in the air, his eyeless eyes wide open. Yu Lian's figure was reflected in his round, pitch-black pupils. Even after Yu Lian landed right in front of him, the stunned expression remained on his face for a long time.
Yu Lian smiled. "What's so shocking about that? When the body of the Root Demon Without Eyes descended into the real universe, its body and shadow switched places. That naturally created a gap between the void and reality. I took the chance to slip in and followed the lingering spiritual energy left by the Void Lord. Isn't that perfectly reasonable?"
The Franmor seemed to think there was some sense in that. Though disbelief still showed in his eyes, he couldn't help asking, "But this is the void, after all!"
"Didn't you come in too?"
For a moment, the other man was at a loss for words.
"So, Mr. Herito Haven, as the true instigator of this war, what's it like to sit safe and sound in the void, watching the storm unfold?"
This Franmor was, of course, Herito Haven, the one who had set everything in motion. His defection—or rather, his act of "pursuing freedom and justice"—had given the Empire a reason to bring its forces to the Commonwealth's doorstep. Yet, while the Empire and the Commonwealth were in the middle of negotiations, he had vanished without a trace from Sede Fortress.
And so the conflict had escalated into gunfire, and the gunfire had grown into an all-out war.
Now, as the war expanded, everyone agreed that, given the Empire's usual ways, it would probably only stop once it had reconquered Earth.
Herito Haven, the man whose