Threatened by Tempest's rapid expansion, the Eastern Empire finallybegins to strikeback. According to Chloe, the time-traveling Hero, thereexists a timeline in which theEmpire defeats Rimuru and Tempest subsequentlycollapses. While Rimuru's doom isn'tset in stone, his victoryisn't a foregone conclusion either.
And to make matters worse,anEmpire spy seems to have infiltrated Tempest...