Chapter 270: Whispers: The Council and the Heretical Traitors

The City of Benevolence is the political, economic and cultural center of the Empire, and serves as its mobile capital.

Countless members of the Ghost-faced Beast, Gulu, Jackal Werewolf and various other races dwell within this "giant mushroom".

The Empire's most elite fleets such as the Holy Light Advocate, Justice Resolve and Truth Guard unite to guard the City of Benevolence.

Although this "mushroom" appears massive, it can also perform jump navigation; normally, together with the joint fleet that protects it, it conducts regular patrols within the Empire's territory, and the patrolled area is called the "Sanctuary".

Unless Forerunners' ruins are discovered, the lofty Ostrich Prophet will never leave the comfortable City of Benevolence.

At that moment.

A 5‑kilometer‑class battle carrier and six 1.7‑kilometer‑class cruisers formed a formation that seemed to have received orders to accelerate away from the fleet and berth at the "right‑side" edge region.

Not long after.

A shallow‑purple vortex exit suddenly appeared not far ahead of the carrier formation.

Immediately after, a cruiser piloted by Mu Er, Lin Mi Er and other elites emerged from Rift Space and entered the carrier formation's range.

Just as Mu Er's group was about to exit Rift Space, the joint fleet had already detected the jump exit's location and dispatched a carrier formation to intercept.

The two sides faced off.

Meanwhile, on the bridge.

"Supreme Captain."

Seated on a floating chair to the right of the central console, a white‑armored elite looked at the screen before it and calmly reported to Mu Er in the Empire's language:

"Their artillery has locked onto us."

Upon hearing this,

Mu Er, also seated on a floating chair, looked through the bridge's forward holographic viewport at the 5‑kilometer carrier and ordered:

"Send a communication request to them; do not take any action beforehand to avoid misunderstanding them."

"Yes, Captain."

The white‑armored elite, having received the order, began the operation, and Mu Er left the captain's seat, walking beside the central console to wait patiently.

Soon.

The central console projected a communication screen, showing the captain who commands the mothership and the entire formation.

?

Seeing the opposing captain's appearance made Mu Er's calm demeanor shift slightly.

The opposing captain was a three‑meter‑tall Ghost-faced Beast clad in red and gold armor, extremely massive.

"Roar—!"

Before Mu Er's four‑petaled mouth could open, the Ghost-faced Beast let out an angry roar at him.

!!

This move instantly provoked discontent among the bridge's elites; some were so angry they rose, ready to rebuke the Ghost-faced Beast's rudeness.

"Awo…" Yet Mu Er raised his left hand, signaling his subordinates not to act rashly.

"Hahaha!!"

At that moment, the Ghost-faced Beast burst into uncontrollable laughter, looking down at Mu Er and mocking:

"I thought someone daring enough to come straight into the Sanctuary would be the Supreme Captain who punishes heretics, only to be defeated and captured by them."

"Speak, Lin Mi Er, give us a reason not to burn you and your incompetent subordinates! Explain why you can return to the Sanctuary!"

Seeing the Ghost-faced Beast's arrogant stance nearly broke Mu Er's composure, but he finally restrained his fury and said:

"I need to appear before the Supreme Council; I will naturally explain everything, especially… the secret of my god."

"My god?" the Ghost-faced Beast was startled.

But it immediately waved its right hand, denying: "Ha! Nonsense, just a bunch of heretics‑captured trash now released back, what right have they to speak of my god? What right to appear before the Supreme…"

At this point, the Ghost-faced Beast faltered, shifting its gaze from Mu Er and showing obvious inner conflict as it looked to the other side.

Simultaneously, the central console projected another communication screen.

A elite wearing exquisite silver‑white armor, with an even more ornate helmet crest and a slimmer build than his kin, appeared at the center of the screen.

"Captain Lin Mi Er," the silver‑white armored elite said gravely, looking down at Mu Er:

"The Supreme Council will hear your defense, but remember, this is your only chance to cleanse your sins and also to erase our tribe's disgrace; do not disappoint us."

"Thank you for the reminder, Councilor Fei Lei Mu; Lin Mi Er takes it to heart and vows never to betray our tribe's expectations," Mu Er replied respectfully.

"Very well." After speaking, Councilor Fei Lei Mu ended the communication.

Due to the higher authority's interference, the once boastful Ghost‑faced Beast, already grim‑faced, became extremely sullen and ceased further provocation, saying:

"Follow us and prepare to appear before the Supreme Council; we hope the secret you discovered can be a bargaining chip for your continued survival, otherwise…"

"I will petition the prophets to become the executioner myself; then I will collect your heads and repeatedly savor your pre‑death despair, hahaha!"

Accompanied by mocking words, the Ghost‑faced Beast unilaterally closed the communication screen, returning the bridge to its previous state.

"Barbaric, shameless scoundrel!" an elite exclaimed with extreme resentment:

"Their tribe cannot even hold out a moment before Astate; what right do they have to mock us!"

"No need to worry; once the council knows the truth, our tribe will no longer need to fight pointlessly for the prophets or this ugly Empire."

Another elite kindly tried to reason, but its logic was overly direct, firmly believing that once the truth is revealed, their Sangheli tribe could return to the way it was.

However, this naive idea still won the agreement of many comrades.

Nevertheless, this naive notion still garnered support from many comrades.

At this moment the bridge's atmosphere became slightly lively as the elite crew continued to pilot the cruiser, keeping pace with the carrier formation under the Ghost‑faced Beast's command.

On the contrary, Mu Er, who had remained silent after the communication ended, bore a solemn demeanor that clashed with the atmosphere on the bridge.

Meanwhile, Mu Er, who had remained silent after the communication ended, wore a solemn expression that clashed with the bridge's mood.

He placed both hands on the central console's screen, pulling up the layout of the City of Benevolence and the joint fleet; after only a few seconds of review, Mu Er noticed differences in the Sanctuary.

Even if Muer lacked the authority to obtain recent deployment records, from the earlier communication exchange it could infer that the commanders of these 'strange' fleets were likely the ones at odds with their elite clan, the Ghost-faced Beasts.

Check: we need to keep the quotes around "strange" as 'strange'. Good.

Something feels off.

Having been given a Spiritual Energy hint by Sui Bian, Muer, combined with the Prophet's long-standing non-interference in the stiff relationship between the elite and the Ghost-faced Beasts, inferred that the Prophet likely wanted to pull some 'small' moves.

We need to keep quotes around "small" as 'small'.

Muer pondered for a moment.

Muer returned to the captain's seat and said to the white-armored elite on his left: 'Notify Luosike, have him temporarily lurk inside the ship, find a chance to sneak away, and hand over the evidence of the Prophet deceiving our clan to Atesiwatu and Ti'erwadami.'

We need to keep the quoted speech with single quotes? The Chinese uses 「」 for quoted speech. We can use English single quotes or double quotes. We'll use double quotes for consistency? The instruction didn't specify; we just need to translate. We'll use double quotes for spoken lines. Let's use double quotes.

Thus: Muer returned to the captain's seat and said to the white-armored elite on his left: "Notify Luosike, have him temporarily lurk inside the ship, find a chance to sneak away, and hand over the evidence of the Prophet deceiving our clan to Atesiwatu and Ti'erwadami."

"This... is, Captain."

The white-armored elite didn't quite understand why Muer would issue such an order, but still conveyed the order to a veteran in the hangar wearing silver armor with Optical Camouflage functionality.

Soon after.

The space outside the ship.

The carrier task force led Muer's cruiser, passing through the outer periphery of the joint fleet, venturing deeper inside, and finally arriving beneath the 'fungal canopy' of the City of Universal Love.

Here there is an enormous valve membrane, roughly ten kilometers in diameter and about six kilometers wide, rectangular in shape.

Having completed its guidance mission, the Ghost-faced Beast formation, per the latest orders, changed course and returned to the mixed fleet to continue escorting.

At this moment.

Four engineering vessels resembling ladybugs, from inside to outside, swiftly passed through the valve membrane and exited the City of Universal Love, each docking at one of the cruiser's four corners.

Hum—!

In an instant, the four engineering ships jointly generated a pink-light-emitting arc-shaped field that completely enveloped and forcibly 'transported' the cruiser through the valve membrane into one of the City of Universal Love's ports.

Inside the port.

All the buildings are mainly purple and pink, with a metallic texture, resembling the facilities of a human docking port.

However, there are no mechanical arms favored by humans to assist with mooring; yet the pink-light field within the docking facilities can perfectly secure any warship or vessel.

The four engineering ships transported the cruiser to one of the docking facilities, and then the facility's field took full responsibility for securing it, causing Muer and its crew to completely lose control of the vessel.

Immediately after.

A passageway resembling a bridge extended from the left side of the facility, connecting to the cruiser's starboard hangar.

Inside the hangar.

At the edge of the valve.

Muer and over thirty elites, unarmed, waited quietly for the honor guard tasked with escorting them to approach.

Only see the honor guard wearing red-and-orange alternating ceremonial-style armor, arranged in two rows, totaling over two hundred, marching in neat steps into the hangar.

This honor guard responsible for protecting the Supreme Council consists of elites handpicked from ten thousand, their martial cultivation and combat experience having reached the pinnacle of their elite clan.

Having arrived at the hangar.

The lead guard wielding an energy spear surveyed the surroundings, then let out a flat-toned 'Ah—'.

Upon hearing the signal, a hundred guards quickly broke formation, split into several teams, and went deep into the cruiser's interior to search the entire vessel.

"…"

Seeing this, Muer's expression remained normal, appearing to have full confidence in the veteran elite named Luosike.

Then the leader indicated to the remaining guards to scan Muer and its party, confirming they had no weapons or explosives, and said coldly:

"Captain Linmi, the councilors and the Prophet are waiting for you; let's go."

"Alright."

After the brief exchange, Muer left the hangar with the hundred guards escorting them, then exited the port via the passageway.

Afterward, they seemed to be deliberately taken to the residential district of the City of Universal Love, passing through the main thoroughfare modeled after a human city, and walked to the central elevator at the district's end.

Within the residential district, all structures are cylindrical megabuildings, each housing tens of thousands of residents of various species.

At this moment, along both sides of the main thoroughfare were residents who had come upon hearing the news, as well as Ghost-faced Beasts wearing heavy armor tasked with maintaining order.

Boos rang out loudly.

Ghost-faced Beasts and the 'fence-sitter' jackal-wolf people openly mocked Muer, and even the gurulu people who saw the elite as saviors couldn't help but lament.

Only elites of the same clan, without deliberately leaving their exclusive residential area, came to watch Muer, whom the entire Covenant Empire had made a laughingstock.

It is obvious that this is the Supreme Council, or rather a route deliberately arranged by the Prophets, to have the defeated, captured Muer 'paraded through the streets', further weakening the elite's influence among the various species.

Especially its deterrent power.

But Muer, at the center of the humiliation vortex, seemed to blank out, no longer angry, silently following the honor guard through the main thoroughfare, eventually taking the anti-gravity elevator to the upper levels of the City of Universal Love.

——————

…

Inside the hall of the Supreme Council.

Looking down from above, the hall overall forms a 'square' shape, with stepped seating on both sides, currently filled with a thousand 'councilors'.

On the left, the 'councilors' are nearly five hundred ostrich-like prophets clad in luxurious robes, decadent in appearance.

On the right are an equal number of elite councilors, resembling the councilor Ferem who helped Muer escape.

On the platform at the front of the hall, three prophets receiving special treatment sat each in a floating 'wheelchair', their decadence and lethargy far exceeding that of their kin.

And the one seated in the center is the ostrich priest whom Gabriel and his brothers had seen in the flagship's internal garden, repeatedly chanting scriptures.

These three are the Prophets of Mercy, Truth, and Sorrow, and together with the thousand councilors they form the Supreme Council of the Covenant Empire.

Although numerous councilors disperse power, for the three priests they can, through faith in the Forerunners' religion and the Covenant True Canon, exert influence to indirectly achieve dictatorial rule.

However, the elite clan's stubbornness and strength mean that this dictatorship always risks collapse.

At this moment, the honor guard escorted Muer and its subordinates through the hall's main doors to the center of the 'square'.

Seeing this,

The Prophet of Truth seated in the center, with a sharp and nauseating voice, spoke up to question:

Mu'erlin Mi'er, you were once the proud supreme captain of our Holy Covenant Empire, so please explain why you were defeated by the heretics and why you were captured and released by them!

Speak! Have you betrayed the faith! Betrayed my god! Are you a traitor who has colluded with the heretics?!

"Traitor!" the prophets present all echoed in agreement.

"..." the elite councilors, however, chose to remain silent.

"The reason for failure is simple." Mu Er fearlessly stared at the Truth Prophet and said plainly: "I and my subordinates are not the human opponents you label as heretics."

Upon hearing this, the Truth Prophet immediately waved his hand and said: "Labeled as heretics by us? Humans? You are indeed a traitor…"

"A traitor? If we're speaking of traitors, it should be your prophet clan!"

Mu Er raised his voice to interrupt the Truth Prophet's words, then lifted his hand to remove his helmet, turned to face the right side of the hall, and raised his voice to say:

"Councilors! My armor stores evidence that humans are not heretics! On the contrary, humans still possess the permit to activate the relics!"

"If we are to say who the traitor is, it should be the prophet clan that obstructs the smooth progress of the pilgrimage and labels humans as heretics!"

(End of chapter)