He didn't have to wait for long to find out. Once the Enki Imperium had confirmed that all of the troops which they had sent over were wiped out, their next move was naturally to try and annihilate the entire area. That way, ideally, they could kill their enemy and destroy the Compound Array Disk at the same time.
It was a good plan in principle, yet it ultimately failed to account for the most important possibility: That the one whose life they were trying to snuff out was too powerful.
'Here it comes. Finally!'
Sensing one of the Guarding Eyes accumulating Energy, Satoru dashed a fair distance away from the place that he was protecting, positioning himself directly between the two. Then, seconds later, a space-rending, red beam was barrelling towards him.
With a bright smile on his face, he met it head-on, preventing it from going any further. Anticipation sparkling in his eyes, he awaited for his body to fall apart... only to be sorely disappointed.
"What kind of garbage is this? A few scratches? That's all!?"
Cursing noisily, he glanced down at his chest, where the few tiny wounds that had momentarily appeared on it had already healed once more. Even the spatial turbulences around him couldn't do much other than to damage his clothing, leaving him completely intact.
"... what a letdown. I guess there's no need for me to deliberately play along anymore, then."
Muttering to himself, he disappeared from the spot, rushing towards the various Guarding Eyes and military fortifications, knocking out every living soul that he could find. Unknowingly, he had become so strong that even after turning off the boost which he would get from Theodore's Coattail Ascension Talent, the Imperium's greatest weapons couldn't threaten him.
From time to time, he needed to rush back to the Compound Array Disk's location and brace a few of their attacks, but that didn't last long. Within dozens of minutes, there was nobody left to trouble him.
'How boring. I'm jealous of some of the others–they at least get to fight their hearts out!'
Rather depressed, he dragged his body from one knocked out foe to the next, restraining them expertly. That was merely one of the many skills which he had been trained in over the years, and it now came in handy.
'I'd best keep my eyes open just in case somebody requests support.'
Before they had set off, he, Cheong Suhyeon, Navya and Vigdis had been tasked with looking out for the other Subordinates, as the four of them were likely to not encounter any meaningful issues whatsoever.
All of this served as a training exercise for everyone, which was also the sole reason as to why it had been possible for the Imperium to find the positions that the Subordinates were charged with guarding.
Because their concealment measures only affected a certain area around them, it was impossible for all traces of the activated Lesser Void Sealing Array to be hidden completely. By relying on the plentiful data on the clusters of Energy Veins in their various worlds, they could notice the minute differences from before, then trace them back to their points of origin.
Naturally, that was when they would find that everything at those locales appeared normal–a dead giveaway that something was profoundly wrong. Sending some of their best to gather more intel was then merely a matter of course.
The entire situation could have been avoided in its totality if Theodore had decided to incorporate some illusions into the Imperium-spanning Sealing Array, but he had actively chosen not to do so. It would have completely invalidated whatever small benefits his Subordinates could potentially derive from this training opportunity, as they would never have been forced to face their foes directly.
Based on the same line of thinking, they had all been asked to deactivate the bonuses that they received from the Coattail Ascension Talent for now, unless they encountered a danger which they simply couldn't deal with. Ten percept of all of Theodore's Standard Attributes were just too unfairly overwhelming of a crutch to rely on, and if they always did so, then it would be easy for them to grow complacent.
It wasn't impossible for them to one day encounter a Talent that could disable this boost, or a situation in which they couldn't access it for whatever reason. If they weren't prepared at all to be left with only their own power, then tragedy could very well ruthlessly strike them down.
Of course, actively handicapping themselves like this could solely be done if there was no particularly great danger waiting for them. With Theodore having a decently good grasp of their foes, he knew that they weren't qualified for him to take them seriously. But on the freak chance that some unexpected monstrous Heaven's Chosen popped up, he always kept an eye on Kiran's network.
There, the Subordinates constantly exchanged intel and reported on their current status. Occasionally, a cry for support was heard, which was then promptly answered by the four responsible for everyone's safety.
But mostly, the strongest amongst the guards didn't face many issues. Their leader, Conrad, even lamented the fact that there had not been enough Teleportation Array Disks to outfit him with one as well, as he had long wrapped up everything on his end.
Jules, Bogdan and Annis could still hold their own, apparently not in need of reinforcements, yet the more recent and less experienced–plus weaker–'hires' were not as fortunate. One almost managed to screw up badly enough to let the Compound Array Disk get destroyed! With Navya's timely arrival, however, this was avoided.
On Han Junqiao's end, everything went smoothly. In her world, there were actually two enemies at the Dawning Numen Stage present, yet they ultimately couldn't endanger her. But instead of rejoicing at having performed well, she sported a worried expression–her sister hadn't been as lucky as her.
Choosing to go to Enki XII simply because it was the closest one to Theodore, Xie Mei had done her utmost to live up to his expectations and not mess up her mission.
With this being yet another Universe-type world, she had managed to find a sufficiently dense Energy Vein cluster on an unremarkable planet's moon very quickly, choosing it as the location where she would activate her Compound Array Disk. Due to her Lunar Echo Talent and the resulting personal Cultivation Technique which she had developed, this environment was perfect for her to display her greatest might.
If it wasn't for the arrival of two extremely headache-inducing individuals, then she could have had just as easy of a time as many others–yet Enmerkar and Ganzer proved to be a tough challenge for her to deal with.
After the former had taken over as this world's highest authority, even an extremely remote celestial body like the moon that she was on couldn't escape from a methodical, thorough search for long. And that was when a certain assassin had appeared to pester her.
Rather than attempting to end her life, Ganzer was fully focused on destroying the 'node' that she was watching over. This was also what made him difficult to deal with, because actually detecting him before he could strike was very mentally draining.
The only reason as to why she had even realized that he was there was that the moonlight was at her beck and call. Just as a precautionary measure, she had bathed the immediate surroundings of the Compound Array Disk in it, which had allowed her to spy him the moment that he had sneaked close enough from within the shadows.
'Dammit! Now the other one is also here!'
Having already got informed about the two of them by her lover, Xie Mei frowned when she detected another powerful presence rushing towards her location from afar. Enmerkar, who had been commanding operations remotely until now, had chosen to enter the fray.
Furrowing her brows, she chose to increase her Energy output a notch, converting a lot of it into a shimmering shield of light cradling her Array Disk within. The rest was fashioned into watery spears draped in rays of the moon's glow, which she sent barrelling towards both of her foes.
Long since having been forced out of the shadows by the omnipresent moonlight, Ganzer felt quite restrained under these environmental conditions. This hail of attacks proved difficult for him to brush off, and he found himself on the back foot.
Enmerkar, however, broke through the barrage forcefully, his fire-shrouded figure practically melting Xie Mei's projectiles without much struggle. Seeing him closing in undeterred, most of his attention trained on his target 'node', her expression grew a little more solemn.
All three of them were at various realms of the Dawning Numen Stage, and in terms of Standard Attributes, while she held an advantage, it wasn't yet fully overwhelming.
'Calm down, me! There is no need to panic–I still have many things that I can try.'
Regaining her composure, she took a deep breath, then forced her Energy to flow through her body at full power. Making use of their current location, she resonated with the moon and its Energy Veins, gaining a temporary, partial control over them.
Speedily intercepting Enmerkar, she kicked out with all of her strength, forcing him to shift his body and raise his arms to guard himself. Their collision made him shoot backwards and almost squeezed the air out of his lungs, leaving an aching pain tingling in his chest and forelimbs.
Naturally, she didn't grace him with a chance to recover. In the same instant, she had created many more moonlight-covered water spears, which bore down on him from all sides right after their clash. No matter what, he would have to endure these blows!
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Enmerkar's flames burned brighter, shielding him from her bombardment by incinerating all that they could. To him, offence was the best defence. Yet, because he was the sole target of this new wave of projectiles, even trying his hardest couldn't ensure the destruction of all of them–a few still managed to slip through.
At the last moment, he had slightly twisted his body, but he was nonetheless penetrated by five spears at once, albeit in non-vital areas. Grimacing in pain, his eyes practically spewed fire as he glared daggers at Xie Mei, using the flames around him to eradicate the watery weapons, and then cauterizing the wounds.
Mobilizing all of his power, right when Ganzer made a bit of a ruckus and distracted Xie Mei ever so slightly, Enmerkar threw out a highly condensed ball of flames, which then expanded rapidly, almost transforming into a miniature sun.
The resulting ridiculous temperature nearly caused Xie Mei's clothes and hair to catch on fire, yet the curtain of water which she conjured out of thin air and wrapped around the flames brought her some much-needed relief. It also smothered her foe's attack in the cradle.
'Oh no, you don't!'
Right then, she noticed that Ganzer–who had got a short instant to breathe while she had needed to deal with Enmerkar again–was already very close to the Compound Array Disk! With a blade of moonlight in hand, she appeared next to him, ruthlessly slashing down at his neck.
Fortunately for both him and Theodore, Ganzer managed to avoid any lethal wounds, but with only one arm remaining, he found it difficult to muster enough power to fully withstand the blow. Staggering backwards, he barely managed to hold on to his dagger, yet the web of his thumb had been ripped wide open.
Immediately turning around to face Enmerkar and force him back as well, Xie Mei glowered at the two of them in annoyance, condensing even more projectiles and half a dozen layers of shields around the object that she had to safeguard.
'If only I could just kill them! Holding myself back and keeping them alive makes it so much more difficult. Fine, I'll let you survive–but definitely not in one piece!'
After another deep breath, she gripped her weapon tightly, then chose to fully focus on Ganzer, who had been pestering her for the longest time. Certain that her shields would be able to hold out for a short while, she would first take care of the weakest link in the meantime!