Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

Outside the Andromeda galaxy, the Maxwell Consortium's fleet is continuously approaching.

However, instead of calling them warships, it would be more fitting to call it a massive planet.

Its radius exceeds Azure Star by twelve times, with a powerful gravity that directly mounts numerous counter-attack turrets into orbit. The terrifying artificial magnetic field turns all optical weapons into laughable toys. This massive size and mass are enough to erase the flaws of an overly large target area.

This majestic planet has no engine to drive it but is powered by temples and monks' prayers, offering their mind power.

On the planet's surface at the Grand Altar, the Foreign Minister of Miasma opened a communication line with the Head of State:

"Shalom — Your Excellency, Patriarch, negotiations are completely ineffective. Leoz Dominet refuses to come with us to the Star Union. He even threatened to attack us."

"As a Starry Abyss hero and the one who ended the Galaxy Eye Meat Grinder, he has reason to be proud."

The leader of the Maxwell Consortium, Grand Shepherd Corrington Shalom, is a figure shrouded in purple, gaunt and lean. He is not a traditional Fine Artistry Pathway Spellcaster but a Dread Monk of the Sovereign Pathway.

"Leoz boasted that in fifteen minutes, we'll be waiting to die."

"Ridiculous. You're piloting one of our strongest battle planets. We're here to annihilate a nation — but things are complicated. We cannot afford to lose Azure Star."

"Then, Your Excellency, how should we proceed…"

"Let me think about it."

Shalom closed his eyes and began to ponder.

Fungal beings think very slowly. Each time they think, they must sink their consciousness, connecting to the underground mycelium network.

As the nation's only Omega Tier (24) powerhouse, Shalom's status is not good. His arcane energy is already depleted, and his life is nearly at its end.

The death of fungal life is unique. They gradually become lignified, losing consciousness, rather than decaying naturally like other creatures. However, their lifespan is short, and without the chance to attain godhood, their life ends in just a thousand years.

In many cases, size means strength, it means the most direct display of a nation's, a people's, a society's prosperity.

For the Maxwell Consortium, it's no exception.

Unlike the Baizhu Autonomous State, Crystal Tower, or the Night Butterfly Federation, the Maxwell Consortium is a recognized local power, ranking among the top five hundred in the Layer Abyss.

It possesses a complete interstellar trade system and advanced industrial technology. As an idealistic nation, the Maxwell Public Consortium has cohesion and mobilization capabilities far surpassing ordinary civilizations.

In the Layer Abyss, there's a saying: if you provoke one of an idealistic civilization, you've actually provoked the entire street.

This is not an exaggeration.

The Public Consortium is essentially equivalent to a divine right government with universal voting. The current Grand Shepherd Corrington Shalom slowly worked his way up from the grassroots, becoming the dominion of a conglomerate ruling over 90 billion people.

If you carefully read the history of the Maxwell Consortium, you'll find that this ethnicity evolved from a fungal group is filled with suffering and tragedy, finally managing to rise by hitching a ride on the Narrative Civilization's coattails.

However, for Shalom, the seemingly glorious Maxwell Consortium is actually facing an unprecedented dark moment.

The Layer Abyss is called that not just because it's the first layer in the Starry Abyss, but more importantly, the curse here is very special: no matter how strong a powerhouse is, when they arrive on a planet with a limit of Gamma (3), they will eventually be weakened by the planet, falling to the Gamma Rank in power.

Moreover, with the Layer Abyss's low ceiling, powerhouses exceeding Kappa (10) either stay in the Inherent Time Domain to nurture themselves as strategic weapons or continue to dive deeper, fighting for the homeland's pathways and the favor of the deities.

But the Maxwell Consortium embarrassingly finds itself in this predicament.

The Maxwell Consortium believed in idealism and quickly became a subordinate under the expansion of the Obliteration Sanctum.

But the problem is... it does not enjoy the Inherent Time Domain.

Furthermore, due to the immense distance from the motherland and the Maxwell Consortium facing the Empire directly, if a conflict erupts, without needing much thought, the Maxwell Consortium would become a bridgehead against the Empire.

No, it wouldn't even be a bridgehead; it would immediately become a boxing ring for the two top powers to pummel each other.

Without the Inherent Time Domain, this means it cannot connect with the Narrative; any talents they cultivate beyond Kappa (10) would leave them, either grooming narratives or diving deeper into the Starry Abyss.

If this continues, they will end up as a colony contributing talent and market to the Narratives, and who can tolerate that?

However, the threat from the Empire looms near, and the Sanctum, wary of this nascent Narrative, has hesitated to decisively cover the Maxwell Consortium with the Inherent Time Domain.

For this reason, Patriarch Shalom ordered that the Maxwell Consortium must carve out a space for survival, at least transferring the battlefield to other star systems.

Soon, the target was found.

Two thousand five hundred years ago, the Maxwell Consortium discovered the Andromeda galaxy, but at the time, the Empire and the Sanctum were in open war against each other, leaving the Maxwell Consortium shivering, not daring to join, leaving this star system undeveloped.

However, starting five hundred years ago, the Maxwell Consortium could no longer bear this external threat from strong enemies and internal struggles with blood-sucking overlords.

Domestic resentment continued to grow, and powerhouses cultivated with vast resources eventually became monks of the Sanctum, or more simply, dropped out of contact once they entered the Starry Abyss.

What the hell, is the homeland paying to raise ingrates?

In search of a buffer space, the Maxwell Consortium, after discussion, began secret interference with Azure Star.

Initially, they hoped to provide knowledge aid, guiding the Azure Star People to unite into a federation and slowly move towards idealism, ultimately fooling them into the Obliteration Sanctum.

This behavior had risks because, according to interstellar law, member states of the Interstellar Alliance cannot intervene in indigenous civilizations.

On one hand, the Interstellar Alliance doesn't recognize the human rights of those who haven't left their home planet by their own power, a stance beneficial in protecting the Interstellar Colonial Company's interests.

On the other hand, this law essentially gives small nations just leaving their home planet some breathing space, preventing them from being immediately devoured by the Narrative Civilization.

The Consortium engaged in very intense discussions, ultimately deciding that instead of continuing as servants of the two Narratives, a quick intervention by the Interstellar Alliance might be more straightforward.

But when they made the nearly death-defying resolution to actually approach Azure Star, they were stunned.

The Empire was openly engaging with Azure Star's Yamiriko and even assisted Yamiriko in creating a rudimentary Pathway support system, giving Azure Star, a purely technological planet, Spirit Medium and Shaman legacies.

What on earth does this mean?

The Consortium's observers were terrified, rushing back to the motherland for yet another round of discussions before tragically discovering a fact:

"The Interstellar Alliance and interstellar law can't restrain the Narrative. Dominions and Great Powers are the law themselves."

Ultimately, with no other choice, the Consortium decided to send the news upwards, delivering the Empire's plans to the Sanctum.

After reading it, the Sanctum didn't hold them accountable for unauthorized observation, instead encouraging them to invest more high-level knowledge.

The Maxwell Consortium dared not question it, after all, what the parent says goes, and they just had to obediently execute.

But in the end, the Maxwell Consortium had a parent, what did Leoz have?

Leoz is indeed strong — but this time, they dispatched a battle planet accompanied by five Iota (9) and one Kappa Rank.

What could he possibly fight us with?

Shalom thought over and over but couldn't find a satisfactory answer.

He mobilized a vast information network, utilizing mycelium and spores to continuously gather information, yet no alliance relationship between Leoz and any Narrative was found.

Ultimately, combining all the data, he concluded that Leoz was just overly arrogant after winning some social and Void Overlord battles.

"No need to think anymore. Leoz is nothing to worry about; you just go ahead and launch the attack."

He disconnected from the mycelium and opened the communication line, preparing to send out the information when the other party initiated contact.

'Hmm? Does Miasma have a victory update?'

Shalom pondered:

'The battle ended a bit too quickly, didn't it? It's not even been 15 minutes.'

It seems that Leoz was just a name with no substance after all.

Before the projection lit up, a voice came through:

"Hello."

On the other side of the projection, Li Aozi was holding a camera with one hand, aimed at the already sliced-open battle planet behind him:

"Is there more?"