Chapter 1960
Right in front of the Divine Sun Palace was another gigantic divine astralship more than five times its size. It looked like a lifeless white ball of flame and didn't resemble the mechanical wolves from before at all. In fact, it almost looked like an astral hole.
The terrifying ball of flame was gathering nova source as it locked on to the gigantic golden head. It was the strongest divine astralship of the two Skywolf stars and the trump card they had used to take over many heliacal-class worlds. Starvore was its name. It had a miniaturized nova source with a capacity more than five times that of the Divine Sun Palace. That made it more than ten times the size of the Kilostar Capital, making it measure up to even divine astralships of skypiercer-class worlds. Using it to conquer heliacal-class worlds was pure overkill.
It alone was more than capable of taking on the Divine Sun Palace, let alone the three divine astralships of the same class as the Greenvoid Abyss. The sun emperor seemed as good as dead, now that his ship had been targeted, which was why it was puzzling that he still hadn’t made an attempt to flee despite the odds. The specters in the ships glared at the Divine Sun Palace with a bloodthirsty look.
"Is that the fellow who whipped out this weird astralguard formation that caused the Yanyi Army to suffer so many casualties?" The specters simply didn't understand the sun emperor, who was still smiling like he didn't have any worries in the world.
The atmosphere within the Starvore was cold and somber. The halls, pillars, ceilings, and floors within were lined with skulls that were surrounded by lifeless white flames. Emerald-green demonic flames burned within the mouths and eye holes of the skulls like mischievous beasts. To anyone else, it would look like a picture straight out of hell, but it was actually a glorious sight for the Skywolves. The skulls had been taken from their vanquished enemies, after all, and there were hundreds of millions of them lining almost every surface of the ship.
There was even a throne right in the center of the grand hall made up of skulls that looked markedly different from the rest. They seemed heavy and tough, and the eye holes seemed to reveal a view into something ancient. Most likely, they were skulls belonging to sovereign-class elites. That was the mark of pride the Skywolves bore as the most distinguished murderers in the service of the mysterians.
Seated on the grand throne as the divine astralship charged up an attack against the Divine Sun Palace were three individuals, a man and two women. They stood at the apex of power in Skywolf. There were seven different lines of specters in Skywolf, with nine sovereigns in total, far outstripping Violetglory in number. The largest of those family lines had three sovereigns, while the others had one each, and together, they were known as the emperor, two empresses, and six rexes.
Sovereigns Sanctquility and Greenvoid had led the Greenvoid and Sanctquility specter lines. The two of them were considered to be among the six rexes. The other four rexes were the leaders of their own specter lines.
The strongest specter line, however, had three sovereigns. Their line alone controlled half of Skywolf Blaze, boasting more elites than the other four combined. Even including the Sanctquility and Greenvoid lines, they would be roughly on par with them, which made the six rexes subordinate to the emperor and two empresses of the Starvore line. Undoubtedly, they were the strongest Skywolf had to offer.
The Starvore line boasted the best talent among all seven specter lines of Skywolf. It was said that they had a terrifying 'digestive' ability. While other specters could strengthen themselves by devouring other flesh, Starvores could consume divine ore to strengthen their bodies—almost like Yin Chen, though the latter could split up into more bodies using the metals it had eaten. The Starvores simply consumed divine ores to make their bodies as tough as divine artifacts. Thanks to their unique talent, they reigned supreme on Skywolf and boasted a powerful reputation across the astralscape.
The emperor and empresses were undisputed top elites, and the three of them were actually wedded to each other. The fact that they were family showed that they were united on a single front with a single, uniform will! These very three were the ones who had locked on to the sun emperor. The other divine astralships beside theirs belonged to three of the six rexes. In other words, after accounting for the deaths of Sovereigns Greenvoid and Sanctquility, as well as another from Skywolf Blaze, all of the sovereigns had emerged to end the sun emperor.
No matter what, it seemed like a dead end for the sun emperor. All four divine astralships were gathering energy around their divine astralship formations for a crippling blow against the Divine Sun Palace. Atop the white throne of bone, the supreme rulers watched the sun emperor as they would a court jester. They had spent a substantial number of specter lives to finally locate the Divine Sun Palace.
"So he’s the one that killed Greenvoid. Once he’s killed and his ship is destroyed, this unexpected astralguard formation should also fail," a beauty with floor-length white hair said. Her figure was incredibly seductive and she was lightly dressed. She leaned against the man in the middle and surveyed the situation with a gaze even more enchanting than Sovereign Sanctquility's. She was none other than Empress Yu of the Starvore line.
The Starvore line had a unique tradition where new sovereigns in their line of opposite genders would be wedded to each other, as long as they weren't directly related. That applied as long as there was at least one member of the opposite gender, so unions of two men with one woman were also possible. In fact, if there were four sovereigns, two women and two men, they wouldn't form two couples, but rather a quartet united in matrimony.
Only a group of people with incredibly strong loyalty to their clan ideals would be able to practice such a tradition. Even sovereigns had to abandon their own desires for the sake of the line's glory. Empress Yu and Empress Ying, for instance, were united in thought and purpose, putting aside the minor jealous arguments they had, and that attitude was the main reason the Starvores had reigned supreme since antiquity. None of the other six specter lines had been able to do the same.
Empress Ying seemed much more proper in comparison to Empress Yu and sat prim and straight. Her gaze didn't waver in the slightest as she controlled the divine astralship, fine tuning its lock on the Divine Sun Palace. Her eyes were like silver stars, sharp and chilling. While she was even more refined than Empress Yu, she wasn't as seductive.
The one in the middle was the emperor that enjoyed being sandwiched by two beauties. In terms of power, he far outstripped both of his wives, making him the strongest specter in the line, and Skywolf by extension. As such, the two empresses abided by his will and accepted him as their leader. He was Sovereign Starvore, but he preferred being addressed as Grand Emperor Starvore.