Beyond the Bloodline

Chapter 446: Breaking the Chain

"We can’t let this war progress like a conventional conflict. We can’t slowly reveal stronger and stronger forces while waiting for the enemy to finally reveal their hand. We have to end this as quickly as possible before more Eternals become aware of it and attempt to interfere."

"Hmm? More Eternals? Are you saying some of them already know?" Richard asked, earning a nod from Jamie.

"Yes. I personally informed Roland about everything so he could stop the others from interfering. However, my recent activities involving Akari and your mother have created the possibility of Julio feeling renewed anger towards me."

"Renewed anger? Just what the hell did you guys do?" Olivia asked.

Jamie shrugged lightly before replying, "Well, your aunt is now a hybrid, so there aren’t six of us anymore, we are Seven. And you know as well as I do how the process of us becoming Hybrids concerns Julio, the Eternal who governs the Concept of Death."

Olivia nodded in understanding, and Richard then asked, "I would expect Julio would’ve been on guard for Mother’s potential interference, or maybe she hadn’t sensed that Mother had reawakened?"

Jamie shook his head slightly and replied, "Oh no, she did know your mother had reawakened.

In fact, she even came to stop her. But she ended up getting distracted halfway when the Aggressor of Death, Azi Dhaka, came over to play."

The sudden mention of Azi Dhaka made the two Cathedral siblings wear confused expressions, and Richard immediately asked, "Jamie, why was Azi Dhaka conveniently appearing at the same location where Julio was trying to stop my mother from turning my aunt into a Hybrid?"

At that question, Jamie silently averted his gaze from Richard, and in that moment, Richard instantly understood.

"I see, so that’s why Julio is pissed off at you."

He didn’t need anyone to say it. Jamie was clearly the one who engineered Azi Dhaka’s presence there. And if he could figure it out, there was no way Julio, who had been there at the time, wouldn’t have seen through it as well.

"Julio is currently busy trying to stabilise the Concept of Death and prevent the ripples caused by detaching your aunt from it from spreading too far, but when she’s done, there’s a non-zero chance she’s going to come around.

If she notices the existence of the Dead Zone, sees those dead lifeforms inside it, and what they’re doing there, there’s no way she won’t delete them from existence. The problem is she won’t care about the damage that would do to this universe, especially since she knows it’s my universe and would definitely want to get back at me."

"Innocents unrelated to the conflict between you two would still get caught up in it..."

Oliva’s mutter made Jamie laugh lightly.

"Well, for starters, Julio couldn’t really care less about the deaths of billions of beings from one universe.

Don’t forget, she oversees an entire Multiverse filled with a constantly increasing number of universes. But she also knows there wouldn’t be much collateral damage, because she knows I’d definitely take action to reduce the damage the universe suffers.

Considering I’d be going up against an Ultimate, I’d have to break out everything, and me getting beat up would probably be Julio’s goal."

He shrugged lightly like this wasn’t too much of a problem, then continued.

"But that’s beside the point. What matters right now is that we can’t let the war progress slowly. We have to end it fast.

I’ve studied the reports from the Accord, done some retrocognition on the battlefield zones, and I’ve seen how things have been going. The dead lifeforms are far more structured than I expected.

Pausing, he shook his head and corrected himself. "No, to be precise, the Neo-Extinction Legion is far more structured than I thought."

Olivia and Richard both nodded in agreement with Jamie’s analysis, since they had noticed the same.

"Their command structure is solid. The only time we’ve managed to break their chain of command was when we instructed Accord forces to deliberately stall them outside the Dead Zone, so we could reduce their numbers, however small that effect may be," Oliva said.

Immediately after, Richard took a seat near Olivia and spoke.

"These guys have been breeding inside that Dead Zone for at least a few million years. For them to launch an attack on the rest of the universe like this means they’re confident they can take on the current forces and any potential reinforcements. That means their numbers are in the quintillions. There’s no way an organisation that large functions without a proper command structure."

Pointing at Jamie, Richard continued, "Those Cosmic Realm dead lifeforms you sensed are likely the true Heralds of the Neo-Extinction Legion. They’re probably the ones issuing commands, just like the Supremes, and we do for the Intergalactic Accord.

So you’re suggesting we break their command structure by taking out those cosmic dead lifeforms, right?"

At Richard’s question, Jamie nodded.

"Yes. And... I’d like to take it a step higher."

For a moment, there was silence.

Then Olivia asked, "Further? The Heralds of the Neo-Extinction Legion are already the highest commanders in their ranks. All of them should be receiving power directly from the leader of the—"

She paused, her eyes widening as she realised what Jamie was implying.

"We have to end this for good," Jamie said resolutely. "If we succeed, the Neo-Extinction Legion will become a headless chicken that can be contained with ease. Eliminating the remaining forces will still be a pain, but I’ll get a few helpers from outside."

"But how?" Olivia asked, genuinely curious about his plan.

Jamie exhaled softly and said, "I’ve got a plan, and Akari, who I recently worked with to eliminate a large portion of the forces from other inter-universal empires backing the Neo-Extinction Legion, would be a good candidate to execute it. There’s just a slight problem."

Olivia and Richard both narrowed their eyes, clearly unconvinced that the problem was as minor as he made it sound.

"And what exactly is this problem?" Olivia asked.

Jamie chuckled lightly and replied with a smile, "Akari might NOT like this plan of mine."