(A few days later, Planet Yu Prime, Yu Rulo’s POV)

Just as Yu Rulo had demanded, over the past week, the intelligence department exhausted every measure within its reach to infiltrate Planet Satoru and return with even the smallest piece of usable information regarding the true strength of the Cult’s occupation forces.

Merchant vessels had been dispatched first under ordinary trade requests, carrying disguised agents among their passengers as they approached the blockade hoping to enter under the pretense of commerce, and yet every single one had been denied access long before reaching the planet’s atmosphere.

When that approach failed, they had shifted tactics and transmitted distress signals claiming engine malfunctions, mana leaks, and failing life support systems while requesting emergency humanitarian docking clearance, and when even those appeals were ignored, some agents had attempted to force passage through the blockade itself, only for those ships to be destroyed before ever crossing the defensive perimeter, leaving behind the bitter realization that despite trying every avenue available, they simply could not get close enough to see anything.

As by the end of the week, Yu Rulo finally lost what little patience remained within him.

*SMASH*

*CRASH*

*BREAK*

"Damn it... damn it... damn it!" Yu Rulo roared, as another artifact shattered against the wall of his office while broken crystal scattered across the floor around his feet.

His composure had abandoned him completely now, as rage overtook the discipline expected of a Patriarch, and for several moments he could do nothing except pace amid the wreckage while cursing the incompetence of his own intelligence apparatus.

"Why are they all so useless..." he muttered through clenched teeth, though even as he said it, a bitter part of him already knew the answer.

The truth was not that the intelligence wing had suddenly become incompetent, but that it had been hollowing out for centuries, as too many generations had operated in comfort, dealing with trade disputes and minor border incidents while rarely being forced to contend with an enemy that understood concealment and counterintelligence at this level.

Worse still, many of the men who had preserved whatever true competence remained had died on The Pit during Aegon Veyr’s execution, because several veterans who formed the quiet backbone of those institutions had attended as honored guests and never returned alive.

Their deaths had left damage far larger than numbers alone could describe, as some had held together entire strategic networks through judgment and experience, while others had anchored military coordination through instincts that could not simply be taught to replacements.

Naturally, some positions could be filled again over time, yet the depth of skill those men carried could not be restored so easily, which was why Yu Rulo knew the wounds left behind would likely take a century to fully mend.

But unfortunately for him, he did not have a century to rebuild the Yu Clan.

He only had today.

As today, he had to face Yu Kiro as a failure, as just thinking about it made him depressed.

"I do not even know what face I am supposed to show the Clan God with empty hands like this..." Yu Rulo muttered, his anger draining into something much heavier.

For all his fury toward his subordinates, none of it changed the reality that he now stood with almost nothing meaningful to report regarding the enemy gathering on Satoru, and that, Yu Kiro was most likely going to be extremely disappointed in him today. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"I just hope.... The ancestor is more understanding of my position....."

He muttered, before bending to fix his hair in a broken mirror shard, as he tried to fix his composure, before leaving to meet Yu Kiro as scheduled.

—--------------

Surprisingly, Yu Kiro was not angered by Yu Rulo’s failure to obtain any information regarding the Cult’s operations at all, as after hearing the full account in silence, he merely leaned back slightly and spoke with a calmness that caught the Patriarch off guard.

"Well, this is unfortunate, but nothing beyond what I had already begun to suspect," Yu Kiro said, his tone measured as though the matter, while serious, had merely confirmed a line of thought he had been following alone.

"For the past week I myself have tried probing Planet Satoru with divine sense, and yet even I cannot see what exactly is happening there, which means whatever concealment the Cult is using is not ordinary battlefield obscuration," he continued, his voice lowering slightly as the implication deepened.

"It appears Soron passed on the knowledge of how to block the perception of enemy Gods trying to peer inward, because even I have been denied vision into that planet, and that is not something I say lightly," he added, as those words made Yu Rulo’s expression tighten with alarm.

For a moment Yu Rulo simply stared, because hearing even a God admit blindness toward an occupied world made the problem feel far graver than failed reconnaissance ever had.

"So what now, Clan God... what can we do to mend this situation?" Yu Rulo asked, as despite maintaining formality, there was unmistakable urgency beneath his words.

Yu Kiro did not answer immediately, as instead he slipped one hand into his sleeve and drew out two sealed orbs that glimmered with a compressed radiance so dense that even standing near them made Rulo gulp nervvously.

"Come"

Yu Kiro muttered, as he gestured for Yu Rulo to step forward.

When the Patriarch approached, Yu Kiro placed both orbs into his hands with deliberate care before speaking.

"These contain the full force of my killing intent," Yu Kiro said, his tone calm, as though discussing tools rather than weapons capable of devastating fleets.

"Take a fleet personally to Satoru, and if the blockade attempts resistance, crush one of these near their outer formation and it will erase every ship caught within its radius, after which you may force entry onto the planet," he explained, as Yu Rulo felt the terrifying pressure sealed within the orb and understood at once what sort of treasure he had just been entrusted with.

"The second is not for conquest," Yu Kiro continued, his eyes sharpening slightly, "it is there to ensure you leave alive in case this enemy proves as strong as we fear, because information remains the true objective, not reckless glory."

Yu Rulo’s eyes widened despite himself.

He had not expected this.

An aura orb carrying the full force of a God was no ordinary artifact, but a weapon minor clans could go to war over, and for Yu Kiro to entrust two of them to him made the significance of this mission unmistakable.

With such a weapon, reclaiming Satoru almost felt possible.

Yet he understood immediately that was not what had been asked of him.

This was a reconnaissance mission first, and that was the main objective.

"Thank you, my Lord... I will not disappoint you this time," Yu Rulo said, his voice carrying renewed conviction as he bowed deeply while securing the orbs.

Yu Kiro gave only a small nod at that, as though anything more would be unnecessary.

"Go, then," he said, lifting one hand in dismissal.

"And find out whether the Cult has truly birthed another monster... before he has time to grow into another Soron.... Or history forbids, the Timeless Assassin."