Chapter 285: Do Not Let the Battle Flag Gather Dust

How powerful were the Dead Spirits at their peak?

One could say that the Empire at its peak encountered the Dead Spirits at their peak.

Except for super entities like the Emperor and the Original Body, everything else was absolutely crushed!

This absolute crushing involved not only the quality of the troops but also their numbers!

Yes, with absolute quality, the Dead Spirits also possessed absolute numbers.

Because when the Dead Spirits transformed from the Fearful of Death into living metal, they became a race that spans most of the galaxy and can directly clash with the Star God and the Ancient Saint.

They immediately converted all of their members into an army.

In other words, the number of Dead Spirits' population back then equals the number of armies they have now.

Moreover, living metal has limitless self‑repair, so the Dead Spirits are completely unafraid of being worn down by massive numbers.

Even with the dual advantage of quantity and quality, this is still not the Dead Spirits' core advantage.

Because after the war between the Ancient Saint and the Star God ended, the Dead Spirits took revenge on the Star God, annihilated it, and collected the infinite Star God Fragments that resulted from its death.

Relying on those Star God Fragments, they fully mastered the laws of the physical universe.

With those Star God Fragments, the Dead Spirits fabricated a great number of super devices that could be called miracles.

For example, the "Brilliant Star Map" that can snuff out a star as easily as a candle.

The Brilliant Star Map does more than merely extinguish a star; it can even, on a physical level, move a planet—or an entire star system—from one end of the galaxy to the other.

Of course, the energy cost of such a relocation would be entirely borne by the Star Gods that have been made to suffer by the Dead Spirits.

Many people habitually call the Dead Spirits' postwar betrayal of their own masters a "backstab".

But if one looks at the entire Ancient Saint–Star God war in full, the truly backstabbed party is actually the Dead Spirits.

Because the Star God deceived the Dead Spirits—still the Fearful of Death—with false promises, telling them that if they accept the Star God's proposal, the Fearful of Death would achieve eternal life for the entire race.

That is why the Fearful of Death steadfastly stood with the Star God, determined to fight the Ancient Saint to the end.

Only when the final transformation ceremony was completed did the Silent King and his fully living‑metal followers—newly reborn Dead Spirits free from death's curse—realize this.

The Star God never granted the Fearful of Death eternal life; instead, it duplicated their memories and consciousness and implanted them into the living‑metal bodies.

That is not any kind of immortality; it is the outright extermination of the entire Fearful of Death race.

Moreover, during this process the Star God turned the self‑annihilation of the entire Fearful of Death race into a grand soul buffet!

Thus, when the cloned Fearful of Death—i. e., the newly reborn Dead Spirits—realized this, they would, after the war, spare no expense to kill the Star God.

Because the truly backstabbed are the Fearful of Death!

And at the end of these ancient grudges, regardless of whether the renamed Dead Spirits—the Fearful of Death—willingly…

They all became the ultimate victors of the ancient great war, not only obtaining massive Star God Fragments but also assimilating much of the Ancient Saint's technology, fully mastering the physical laws of the real universe.

Thus the Dead Spirits became the galaxy's strongest force.

Until the Silent King felt he had made a grave mistake and dissolved the "Grand Control Protocol", causing the Dead Spirits to split from a single entity into countless dynasties.

Another oversight allowed the Ancient Beastmen to develop, forcing the Dead Spirits into a collective slumber.

Otherwise, where would the Age of the Spirit Race and the Age of Humanity come from?

And now, no one knows what the Secret Cult actually did; the Dead Spirits' dynasty, which should have continued massive slumber and fragmentation, has somehow gathered terrifying power far beyond before.

These forces are so strong that even the Great Rebellion's impact is severely weakened; the Emperor can occasionally go to the ground, and loyal Original Bodies still retain many parts of the Empire, which is being beaten to the point of gasping!

But Xisi thought this was reasonable.

After all, there must be countless other powerful artifacts like the Brilliant Star Map within the Dead Spirits' Empire!

At this moment, he watched the distant battlefield in orbit gradually become completely covered by the rotating Alert Star above his head.

He then glanced at the Empire Fleet, now utterly disorganized, shrouded in thick smoke, scattered by the Dead Spirits.

Xisi refocused his gaze ahead.

"Is there a radio Communicator nearby?"

The Empire's long‑distance communications rely mainly on star‑language transmissions through Subspace; now that the spirit‑driven dead zone has completely suppressed Subspace, only ancient radio communication can be used.

While listening to Xisi's question, Sakan and the others, who were also watching the Empire Fleet above—whether scattered, making a desperate charge, or even attempting an emergency landing on the Alert Star—quickly turned around.

Ignoring the Imperial warship wreckage streaking into the Alert Star like meteors in the distance, Danika pointed toward a direction not far behind her.

"The Alert Star has not been fully lost; many defenders have retreated underground to resist."

"The direction we came from has an entrance to an underground fortress; there should be a Communicator there that can contact the Orbit fleet."

Danika finished speaking, but her expression turned sour.

Because after speaking, Danika realized that the Orbit fleet she mentioned was turning into a rain of meteors, slowly descending to the ground.

Her expression was a bit awkward, but Xisi did not blame her; he simply looked toward the direction Danika indicated and instinctively stepped forward.

Just as he lifted his foot, Xisi suddenly remembered something.

He stopped in place, with no constellation of stars surrounding him, no massive army gathering nearby.

Xisi looked behind him at an Astat, a Battle Nun, and a dozen refugees.

Even the Alert Star at his feet—the place where it all began—was there; Xisi fell slightly silent and gathered the Divine Light on his body.

His whole body fully reverted to his mortal form from years ago; then, sword in right hand, gun in left, he turned to look at the people behind him.

"Let's go."

"Or I'll go ahead."

After speaking, Xisi turned and stepped forward, and Danika and the others were startled by the opening prayer of the Sacred Record.

After a moment of stunned silence, they felt just as they had when Xisi once led people through friendly artillery fire, breaking through the Rebel Forces' defense line.

Danika, Sakan and the others simply followed behind Xisi…

Heading toward the battlefield once more!

The lone squad strolled across the boundless mirror.

Overhead, the sky is streaked by successive debris meteors drifting slowly across the horizon.

Beneath his feet lies a flawless reflection, as if another galaxy's Alert Star ground were mirrored.

A group of people silently watches Xisi walking at the front, as if everything has returned to the legend's beginning.

Yet as the destination draws nearer, Sakan and the others, who finally recall something from Xisi's silhouette, begin to show increasingly strange expressions.

Because the entrance to the underground fortress is near, distant, faint sounds of dense gunfire begin to arise.

The wordless Gauss ray of the Dead Spirits, and the mortals' resisting roars, travel through the mirror.

What puzzles the group is not the fighting itself, for war is never scarce in the galaxy.

They simply watch Xisi ahead finally halt, looking at several clumps of green "fly ash" at his feet, and a military flag in the center.

Then Xisi bends down and raises the military flag.

The Imperial Army's common flag, as Xisi lifts it, is billowed by a gust of wind from falling debris and sacrificial explosions, causing the flag to flutter.

The insignia on it, and the mortals in the distance confronting a desperate situation yet still fighting to the death, finally catch Xisi's eye.

Black flag, Black Uniform, black weapons.

Xisi looks toward the battlefield, and the soldiers there also stare wide‑eyed at the conspicuous Xisi reflected in the boundless mirror.

Beside him, Sakan finally cannot hold back and speaks:

"Sir, ahead are the Guard troops of the Alert Star still holding on..."

"Black Watch!"