Chapter 271: Internal Strife and the Power Claw of Human Technology

"Permission to open the relics?!"

"W‑… Shouldn't they be the heretics who destroy relics?"

"Heretical speech! This is heretical speech!"

"Execute them at once! Honor Guard! Honor Guard!"

Mu Er's remarks instantly sparked uncontrollable debate and argument in the council hall.

All the Prophet councilors shouted, claiming that Mu Er and its subordinates had been turned by humans into complete heretics.

The elite councilors, on the other hand, were confused, doubtful and shocked; more than half retorted to the Prophet councilors, insisting that Mu Er's words had cause.

"Silence! Silence!"

At that moment, after hearing one of the three chief priests, the mournful Prophet, roar with a voice that the Prophet race was almost losing, the whole hall gradually fell silent.

Only the atmosphere still lingered with a strong "gunpowder smell," after all Mu Er's words had torn the veneer of harmonious coexistence between the two races.

Since Mu Er's fleet was defeated, the Empire immediately dispatched heavy troops to the border, awaiting the Supreme Council's full attack order, but this mobilization was an internal political struggle within the Empire.

Because Mu Er's defeat and capture allowed the Prophets to finally seize the "point," attacking whether the elite have the ability to guard the City of Benevolence thoroughly and to steadfastly protect the pilgrimage.

Under pressure from public opinion, the elite councilors conceded, dispatching elite fleets such as "Infinity Truth" and "Ancestor Glory" away from the Joint Fleet tasked with guarding the City of Benevolence, to rush to the front lines at the border.

This move caused the military forces directly controlled by the elite councilors to be split, and the Prophets seized the chance to merge the long‑awaited Ghost‑faced Beast fleet into the Joint Fleet.

The delicate balance was broken.

Mu Er's defeat was not merely a battlefield loss; the chain reaction left its entire species at a disadvantage within the Empire.

"Ahem."

The mournful Prophet cleared his hoarse throat, then glared at Mu Er, turned to the Honor Guard commander, and said slowly:

"Captain Lin Mi Er has been assimilated by the so‑called human heretics, his mind now in disarray; take him and his subordinates away for imprisonment, awaiting the Supreme Council's final judgment."

"…"

Upon hearing this, the fellow elite commander hesitated slightly, but waved a hand, signaling a hundred guards to prepare to escort Mu Er and its subordinates to the lower prison of the City of Benevolence.

"Wait a moment."

At that moment, Councilor Fei Lei Mu stood up, halted the Honor Guard's action, placed a clenched right fist on his left chest, bowed slightly to the three priests in a modest show of respect, and suggested:

"Esteemed priests, since Captain Lin Mi Er claims to have evidence, shouldn't we examine it first before drawing conclusions, how about that?"

"…"

Fei Lei Mu's "proposal" caused a subtle unnaturalness to appear on the ostrich faces of the three priests, their expressions turning grim.

It should be known that Mu Er's smooth audience with the Supreme Council was inseparable from Fei Lei Mu and many elite councilors, leaving them in a predicament with no way out.

Then, the compassionate Prophet, having composed his expression, said to Fei Lei Mu: "The evidence can be forged."

Swearing by the blood of the martyrs, "If there is forgery, I Mu Er Lin Mi Er will forever fall into darkness!" Mu Er raised his helmeted right hand and swore.

Fei Lei Mu then addressed all councilors: "Swearing by the martyrs, hmm, that is enough to prove Captain Lin Mi Er's resolve…"

He continued, turning to the three priests: "If the esteemed priests are steadfast that they are not traitors, why fear evidence provided by a captain, could it be…?"

Fei Lei Mu's remarks successfully placed the elite councilors at the high ground of public opinion.

Whether the evidence provided by Lin Mi Er is forged or not, the priests need to approve its broadcast, otherwise it would further prove their cowardice.

In fact, the three ostriches had known from the start that humans seemed to possess the permission to open the Forerunners' relics.

But they never imagined that among humans there would be a "person" like Sui Bian, nor that Sui Bian would receive Lin Mi Er and then release the all‑knowing Lin Mi Er back.

Seeing Fei Lei Mu and the elite councilors insist on exposing the truth finally left the three ostriches with no way to step down.

Thus…

"Enough!"

The Truth Prophet, with its feeble hands, clenched a fist and hammered the hovering wheelchair, then issued a compulsory order to the Honor Guard commander:

"Captain Lin Mi Er has spread heretical speech! Imprison him and his subordinates, destroy the contaminated armor, and await execution shortly! During this time, no one may contact the heretics; violators will be deemed heretics as well!"

Having finished the slightly frantic command, the Truth Prophet immediately controlled the hovering wheelchair, turned and vanished from the council hall, with the other two priests following closely.

The Honor Guard, adhering to the order, placed some kind of "mask" shackles on Mu Er and its group, preventing them from speaking further, then escorted them to the lower prison.

Seeing the three priests leave in haste, the on‑site dispute fizzled out, and the gap between the Prophets and the elite became even more apparent as the two sides of councilors gradually withdrew.

…

Leaving the council hall.

The three ostrich priests walked through an aerial corridor.

"It seems… we must preemptively deal with those brutes!"

The mournful Prophet said, making a fist with his right hand, indicating to his two colleagues that it was time to purge the disobedient elite.

As the ostrich leader, the Truth Prophet declared with utter hatred: "It's not just the Sangheli (elite); this time we must 'cleanse' all councilors, including the worthless ones of our own race."

Following the original plan, let the long‑resented Kira Hani tribe (Ghost‑faced Beast) replace the Honor Guard, then have them swiftly eliminate the Sangheli residing in the City of Benevolence.

"Hmm, we can only advance the plan," the Compassionate Prophet agreed: "There's no time to lose; I'll arrange now for the Kira Hani tribe to be ready."

"Prioritize eliminating Lin Mi Er and the councilors; they pose the greatest threat. The justification for the purge is to claim the Sangheli clan secretly colluded with heretical humans to obstruct the pilgrimage." The Truth Prophet added.

"Rest assured," the Compassionate Prophet replied.

The mournful Prophet added, "Leave the Honor Guard side to me."

"Fine."

The three ostriches then proceeded to their palace, preparing to uproot the elite's influence within the City of Benevolence.

What seemed a thoroughly prepared plan to consolidate power instead highlighted the three priests' short‑sightedness; with humanity as a looming enemy, they were only pondering how to use the war to achieve absolute dictatorship.

Perhaps in their arrogance they believed the Empire could crush humanity with its massive scale, or perhaps they felt safe in the rear, unconcerned about a possible main‑force human assault.

———————

…

Soon after.

The upper district of the City of Universal Love.

Cylindrical megastructures stand here, with wider streets between them, planted with green, blue, and yellow 'greening' plants.

This is a residential zone reserved for the elite clan, and inside a dwelling unit of one of these megastructures…

Aoo…~!

In a living room resembling a human apartment, the angry roars of two elites echoed.

The excellent soundproofing of the dwelling units allows them to vent anger and release emotions without restraint.

At the center of the living room, a small holographic screen displays the events that occurred at the Harvest Star ruins, as well as the conversation between Sui Bian and Mu'er.

The source of the screen is a silver helmet placed on the desktop.

Three elites stand before the screen.

The elite wearing silver armor but lacking a helmet, who followed Mu'er's orders to evade the Honor Guard's search and sneak away, is Loske.

The other two, wearing gold and purple robes respectively, appear to be veteran elites on leave; the recent roars came from them.

The elite in gold robes, who shares the rank of Supreme Commander with Mu'er, also has skin exposed outside the clothing covered in ferocious scars.

The elite in purple robes is most notably missing part of its mouth, changing from a 'four-part mouth' to a 'three-part mouth'.

They are Tirwadami and Ataswatu, who fought alongside Mu'er from the lower ranks, repeatedly earning merit, and together were promoted to the ranks of generals, comrades-in-arms and close friends.

Especially the purple-robed Atas, Mu'er and Tirwadami jokingly call him 'Half-Mouth'.

Loske secretly first visited Tirwadami, stated his purpose, then together went to Atas's dwelling unit, and played the evidence of the Prophet deceiving the elite clan.

Given the evidence provided by the old friend's subordinate, combined with the Prophet's recent maneuvers, the two elites finally saw through the Prophet's true face.

The roaring ended.

With a solemn expression, Tirwadami said, 'The councilor supports Mu'er clearing his name and upholding our clan's honor, but if he chooses to openly confront the Prophet, then our Sangheili clan's situation will become dangerous.'

I'll gather my subordinates and slaughter those decadent bastards!

Atas turned and left, preparing to lead the elite of the special forces directly to the palace of the City of Universal Love.

Don't be reckless." Tirwadami hastily restrained this hot-headed old friend, advising:

What we must first consider is to broadcast Mu'er's findings, alerting our people to guard against the Prophet and the entire Covenant Empire.

Even if we muster troops, we should swiftly evacuate the inhabitants of the City of Universal Love, rather than act blindly without plan.

Mu'er must be saved!" Atas added.

That's certain, we first…

Boom—rumble…

Suddenly, the disturbance from the explosion made the entire megastructure tremble, also cutting off Tirwadami's speech.

?!

The three elites who sensed something wrong immediately went to the edge of the living room, opened the holographic window to observe the outside situation.

All they saw was that fierce fighting had erupted outside.

The streets were flooded with numerous armored units, as well as fully armed Grimface Beasts, Hyena Men, Gurglers, and members of various clans, with no sign of the elite command formation.

Because they were on leave, the elites bare-handed were suffering indiscriminate slaughter.

Even with strong physiques, lacking armor protection, when facing high-temperature plasma and projectile attacks, the elites could only die in resentment.

At that moment, a beetle-shaped tank fired a dazzling plasma bolt at the megastructure where Tirwadami and company were located.

Boom—!

The bolt exploded beneath their unit, creating an even more noticeable disturbance.

Shameless wretches with no honor!!

Atas cursed and hurried out, opening the automatic door and charging out of his dwelling.

This time, the more reasonable Tirwadami did not stop him, but together with Loske, who had put his helmet back on, followed his half-mouthed old friend toward the street.

Faced with the Covenant Empire's sudden 'stab in the back', the first consideration is how to break through.

Soon, Tirwadami and company, along with hundreds of elites, charged out of the megastructure onto the streets to engage the Covenant Empire side.

The battle-scarred Half-Mouth Atas stood out, using agile steps to dodge the green plasma bolts, then made a powerful leap, landing behind the two Hyena Men attacking it.

Click!" two times.

Atas easily twisted the necks of the two Hyena Men, then picked up two plasma pistols, turned and repeatedly pulled the trigger on the nearest Grimface Beast wielding a gravity hammer.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Dense green plasma shot toward it.

Hum—! Hum—!

But the energy shield generated by the armor helped the Grimface Beast block the lethal attack.

!

Seeing this from afar, Tirwadami instantly realized the Prophet had long aimed its spear at the elite clan; otherwise, the Grimface Beast would not have been qualified to use armor with an energy shield.

Hahaha! Die, arrogant wretch!

The Grimface Beast laughed loudly, then its half-ton body charged, raising its gravity hammer to smash Atas.

Atas rolled left to dodge.

With a 'Boom!', the hammer's edge gouged a shallow pit over ten centimeters deep into the ground.

If that blow had truly struck Atas, the result would be easy to imagine.

But Atas couldn't be bothered to think about the result.

At this moment, as it performed the rolling motion, it kept the triggers depressed; the muzzles of the two plasma pistols flashed green light, simultaneously emitting a 'Ri~~' charging sound.

After completing the dodge, adjusting its posture to a half-kneel on the ground, aiming the muzzles at the Grimface Beast, then releasing the triggers in succession.

Whoosh~—!

Two rugby-ball-sized energy cannonballs fired one after another from the barrel.

Boom~—!

The first cannonball successfully shattered the energy shield.

Pfft!!

The second one that followed blew the ghost-faced beast to pieces, flesh flying and blood splattering.

"Splat!" plasma also splattered onto Atais's body, staining his expensive purple robe.

Roar!!

But before Atais could get up, he saw more ghost-faced beasts wielding gravity hammers charging.

Sizzle~...

The two plasma pistols in his hand emitted blue smoke, indicating they were still cooling, forcing Atais to fight the ghost-faced beasts barehanded.

However...

Hum~—!

Amid the ghost-faced beasts' roars, he heard the charging sound of a human-tech power claw.

Bang! Crackle!!

Subsequently, he saw a power claw materialize out of thin air, flashing cyan-blue light, easily shattering the ghost-faced beast's energy shield and smoothly slicing its flesh into several pieces.

At the same time, there was also...

"Hah! Alien scum." A metallic-toned smirk of contempt.

(End of chapter)