Chapter 186: The Gate Opens

Liam stood before the vast emptiness separating worlds, his consciousness extending beyond the boundaries of his own planet.

Behind him lay the civilizations he had nurtured, the pantheons who served under his authority, and the constellations who had been informed of the coming battle, while somewhere beyond his reach waited Leo and the black slimes that inhabited his world.

The preparations were finished. There was no reason to delay any longer.

Liam focused on a distant point in the darkness, directing his attention toward the world he had selected as his next target. He had already observed it through Astral Projection, but observation was no longer necessary, because he had come here to do something far more direct.

He opened an Astral Gate.

Space parted before his consciousness, revealing a passage connecting two distant worlds. There was no window announcing the beginning of the invasion, no countdown, and no elaborate procedure to complete, only the opening of a gate that should never have existed between the two planets.

Beyond it lay Leo’s world.

Liam looked through the passage, observing the unfamiliar terrain on the other side. The landscape stretched beneath a vast sky, and across it moved black slimes of different sizes, some traveling alone while others gathered in groups, their dark bodies shifting as they moved over the ground.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Liam allowed his influence to extend through the opening.

The first disturbance spread across the region nearest the gate. The surrounding space trembled as his presence crossed the boundary, and the black slimes closest to the passage stopped moving, their bodies turning toward the unfamiliar phenomenon that had suddenly appeared in their world.

One of them approached.

Its body stretched upward slightly, forming a shape that suggested curiosity rather than fear. It moved closer to the gate, only to stop when the foreign pressure grew stronger, its dark surface rippling as it struggled to understand something that had no place in its surroundings.

Liam watched without interfering.

"So you can sense it."

He had not expected every inhabitant of Leo’s world to react identically, but the first response was useful regardless. The black slimes were not entirely oblivious to their surroundings, and at least some of them could detect the disturbance caused by an intrusion from another world.

Whether that awareness extended beyond simple perception remained to be seen.

Liam widened the Astral Gate.

The passage became more stable, allowing his influence to spread farther into the unfamiliar world. He did not immediately send every force at his disposal through the opening, choosing instead to establish his presence and observe the first reactions before deciding how aggressively to proceed.

It was an invasion, not a blind charge.

Far away, Leo noticed the disturbance.

His attention shifted toward the region where the Astral Gate had appeared, and the sudden change in his world immediately drew his suspicion. Something had entered his planet from outside, and whatever it was, it had not arrived through any ordinary process he recognized.

He focused his consciousness on the affected region.

A black opening stood against the landscape, its edges separating the surrounding space in a way that made the phenomenon difficult to mistake for a natural occurrence. Beyond it lay a presence that did not belong to his world, and the pressure radiating from that presence was enough to make Leo cautious.

"Another player?"

He had no immediate answer.

Leo concentrated on the black slimes nearest the gate, examining their movements and trying to determine whether the intrusion had already affected them. Some had gathered around the strange opening, while others had begun retreating from it, creating an uneven pattern of movement across the surrounding terrain.

The first thing he needed was information.

He extended his perception toward the gate, carefully examining the foreign presence without allowing his attention to become entirely consumed by it.

There was something distinctly unnatural about the connection, and the fact that it had appeared directly inside his world suggested that whoever had opened it possessed the ability to cross boundaries that should have kept the two planets apart.

Leo’s expression, if it could be called that, changed subtly as the implications became clear.

Someone was invading him.

He had little time to wonder why. The gate remained open, and the presence on the other side showed no sign of withdrawing, which meant that waiting for the situation to resolve itself would be a poor decision.

Leo began directing his attention toward the affected region, seeking to understand how far the intrusion had spread and what response would be most effective.

He did not yet know the invader’s identity, the full extent of its power, or what it intended to accomplish, but he understood that the first moments of an invasion could determine how difficult the rest would become.

The black slimes continued gathering around the disturbance.

For now, they had not been attacked directly, and the invader had not unleashed the full force of its presence. That brief interval gave Leo an opportunity to assess the situation before the conflict escalated.

He intended to use it.

Within Liam’s domain, the news of the opening spread among those who had been waiting for the invasion to begin.

The pantheons had already received their instructions, and the constellations knew that a new battle was approaching, but knowing that an invasion would happen was different from witnessing its beginning.

The moment the Astral Gate opened, the distant possibility they had discussed became an active conflict between two planetary players.

Wias directed his attention toward the unfolding event.

"So it has begun."

Trias remained silent beside him, observing the distant disturbance through the means available to her. She had seen Liam make decisions that changed the course of entire civilizations, but each new invasion carried uncertainties that could not be dismissed simply because he had initiated it.

"Do you think this other god will retaliate immediately?" she asked.

"Perhaps," Wias replied. "But we should not assume that his first response will reveal everything he can do."

Neither of them knew how Leo would defend his world, and neither could determine the full strength of the black slimes from the limited information available. For the moment, their responsibility was to remain prepared and wait for Liam’s decision should their involvement become necessary.

Elsewhere, the constellations watched with varying degrees of interest.

Lapace the Overproud had been eager for another conflict, while Eris Pothoroa paid closer attention to the unfolding situation than to the prospect of fighting itself. The Scarlet Queen watched quietly, aware that the opening of the gate was only the beginning, and that the true nature of the invasion would become apparent through the choices both players made afterward.

None of them entered the battle.

Liam observed Leo’s reaction through the Astral Gate, noting that the other player had already begun directing his attention toward the disturbance. He had not expected Leo to remain ignorant of an intrusion this significant, but the speed of his response gave Liam his first useful indication of how the defender intended to approach the conflict.

"You’re paying attention. Good."

The gate remained open, connecting the two worlds without interruption. Liam could now begin moving forward with the invasion, but he did not rush to overwhelm the region before he understood how Leo would respond to a more direct intrusion.

He had chosen this world because its mysteries interested him, and he intended to discover them through the conflict itself.

Across the passage, Leo continued gathering information, while the black slimes near the opening gradually shifted away from their earlier curiosity.

Something had entered their world, something powerful enough to create a passage between planets, and whatever happened next would determine whether the disturbance remained confined to a single region or spread into a threat that could not easily be contained.

Liam looked through the gate one last time before turning his attention fully toward the world beyond it.

The invasion had begun.

And neither player yet understood how much the coming battle would change.