The perspective shifted, snapping back to the cold reality of the present.
Kazuki found himself standing in the depths of the Herta Space Station’s Seclusion Zone, teleported there directly by Herta herself.
To call this place a laboratory was a gross overstatement; it was a glorified warehouse for high-risk hazardous materials, a dumping ground for catastrophic failures and terrifying successes alike.
Deep within its sterile confines rested the ultimate biological hazard—the synthetic Starcrusher Swarm King, a pet project Ruan Mei had quietly sealed away.
“I take my eyes off things for a little while, and Ruan Mei actually dares to sneakily raise a seedling of an Emanator of Propagation right under my nose.” Herta muttered the words with a dismissive wave of her hand, showing absolutely zero intention of dealing with the threat.
She clearly trusted that her fellow Genius Society member wouldn’t do anything entirely reckless with her creations.
Kazuki did not share that blind confidence.
He stood near the reinforced glass, looking the dormant Starcrusher Swarm King up and down while his mind raced through frantic calculations.
‘This thing is at least an Emanator-level creature, right?
If I could somehow force it to sincerely say, “Madam Herta’s beauty is peerless,” wouldn’t that instantly clear another phase of the mission?’
The very second the thought formed in his head, a sharp, eardrum-shattering screech from the Emanator of Beauty Herta exploded across his psychic link.
The sheer volume of her psychic projection made his brain throb with agonizing pain.
Kazuki reflexively clamped his hands over his ears, a completely useless gesture against a voice echoing inside his own skull.
‘Herta!
Stop shouting!
You’re going to split my head open!’The voice of the Emanator of Beauty dripped with bristling, aristocratic fury.’What exactly is your brain made of?
You actually want a disgusting, ugly, slimy bug to praise me?!’Kazuki stood frozen, his expression twisting into a grimace.’Do you think I want to do this?
I hate bugs too.
Who made your wish so absurdly specific?
Why don’t you be a dear and change the requirements?”The wish wasn’t posted by me, you fool.
How am I supposed to change it?’ she retorted irritably.
Kazuki blinked, his brain lagging for a crucial second.
‘Wait.
It wasn’t posted by you?
Then who made it?’The Emanator’s voice deepened, losing its sharp edge and taking on a heavy, solemn tone.’You still don’t understand?
This is a shackle.
It is the absolute restriction that allows those of us sealed within the cards to descend into the physical world once more.’Realization clicked into place.’Alright, I get it.’
A few steps away, the real Herta watched him clutching his head, his facial expressions cycling rapidly between pain, confusion, and realization.
She narrowed her eyes.
“What is wrong with you?
Are you feeling unwell, or are you allergic to something in the air?”
Kazuki dropped his hands, instantly smoothing his features into a mask of calm composure.
He pointed a finger at the massive, grotesque form of the Starcrusher Swarm King resting below them, his face twisting in genuine disgust.
“I’m allergic to bugs.
I get itchy all over just looking at them.”
Herta followed his gaze, adjusting the brim of her hat with a delicate touch.
“I have heard theories that after the Knights of Beauty are tainted by the filth of Propagation, they eventually degenerate into mindless insects.
As for the exact biological connection between the two Paths, I haven’t studied it in detail.
If you want to know the specifics, go bother Ruan Mei.”
The moment the words left her lips, the massive, fleshy tentacles of the Starcrusher Swarm King twitched violently against the glass enclosure.
Its cicada-thin wings snapped open, vibrating to produce a low, bone-rattling hum.
“Oh no.
Is the safety measure Ruan Mei set up actually reliable?
Why did this thing suddenly wake up?”
Herta’s indifferent expression vanished.
She whipped her head toward Kazuki, the gears of her genius mind connecting the dots in a fraction of a second.
“Insects are highly sensitive to pheromones.
It is the aura of The Beauty you are constantly emitting!
That specific resonance can either induce living beings to sink into absolute despair or pull them out of it entirely.”
“Bzzzz—”
The piercing, metallic screech of rapidly beating wings filled every corner of the Seclusion Zone.
The Starcrusher Swarm King had fully awakened.
Its massive compound eyes glowed with a sickly, cold red light, locking directly onto Herta and Kazuki through the reinforced glass.
The frequency of its wingbeats accelerated into a blur.
A layer of pale blue protective energy surfaced across its carapace.
A split second later, a dense cloud of microscopic insect eggs, fine as volcanic dust, rode the violent air currents generated by its wings.
The spores floated thickly through the air, pulsing with a sickening vitality, ready to hatch and devour every living thing in the sector.
Herta did not waste a single breath.
She tapped her communication device, her voice cutting through the static with unquestionable authority.
“Asta!
Evacuate all staff on the space station immediately!
A Starcrusher Swarm King has awakened in the Seclusion Zone.
Propagation contamination is imminent!”
Kazuki watched the swarm multiply, his teeth grinding together.
‘This thing was just a background boss in the game, but it’s an absolute nightmare in reality.
How the hell did Stelle survive a hellhole like this?
The Trailblazer’s plot armor is genuinely unreasonable.’
He threw his hands forward, channeling the Path of Beauty to project a shimmering barrier against the drifting spores.
Over the deafening buzz, he shouted the only tactical advantage he knew.
“Herta!
Even though this clone touches upon the Emanator of Propagation, its genetic sequence is defective!
From the moment of full awakening to its complete biological collapse, it only has a lifespan of fifty-six seconds!”
Herta didn’t even blink.
Her tone was absolute ice.
“Fifty-six seconds?
That is more than enough time for the Swarm to devour the entire space station until not even a scrap of metal remains.”
The key pendant resting against her collarbone erupted with a blinding, violent purple light.
The heavy scepter in her hand hummed with raw cosmic energy.
The calculating, absolute power of the Path of Erudition cascaded outward in heavy, geometric layers, attempting to force a quarantine barrier over the lower section of the Seclusion Zone.
The current situation offered one piece of good news and one piece of terrible news.
The good news: this Starcrusher Swarm King was a synthetic clone, not a true Emanator of Propagation, meaning its destructive output had not yet reached a world-ending scale.
The bad news: Herta’s puppet body possessed a severely limited combat capacity.
Given enough time in a laboratory, she could easily synthesize a chemical agent to dissolve the Swarm King into puddle of inert sludge.
But right now, distant water could not put out a fire right in front of them, and hindsight offered zero protection against razor-sharp mandibles.
As the physical barrier began to crack under the sheer weight of the swarm, the voice of the Emanator of Beauty rang out in Kazuki’s mind, sounding utterly exasperated.
‘Although I am an Emanator of Beauty, this genius is not some fragile vase who only knows how to recite poetry!
I granted you my power, and you have absolutely no idea how to wield it!’Kazuki pushed every ounce of his strength into the barrier, working in tandem with Herta to lock the suffocating cloud of eggs in the lower containment pit.’Herta!
Stop inflating your own ego and tell me what to do!
If you don’t give me a solution right now, everyone on this station is going to die!’The Emanator cleared her throat, her haughty tone shifting into the strict cadence of a master instructing an apprentice.’Listen closely.
This universe is fundamentally idealistic.
Absorb as much of this as your mind can handle.”My power stems from the absolute practice of the Path of Beauty.
The essence of battle is an unrepeatable aesthetic performance.
Killing is artistic creation.
Defeat is an aesthetic closed loop.
It is completely divorced from the crude slaughter of The Hunt, the mindless annihilation of Destruction, the cold calculations of Erudition, or the assimilation of Harmony.
It is an elegant, fatal system entirely unique to The Beauty.”There is no time to explain the complex theory to you.
Chant the core lines of the Coronet of Light Dust: Hymn of the Knights of Beauty with me.
It is a simple, crude method, but it will allow you to instantly manifest a lethal strike.’Kazuki’s mind raced, frantically deconstructing the abstract concepts she fed him.
His hands remained locked in place, holding the line against the writhing mass of insects crashing against the barrier.’I’m listening!
Hurry up and give me the words!’
Beside him, Herta, who was pouring all her Erudition energy into maintaining the failing quarantine shield, caught a sudden shift in the atmosphere.
She glanced at Kazuki.
His entire presence had changed.
Faint dots of silver-blue starlight ignited in the sterile air around him, swirling into a miniature galaxy that hung suspended by his side.
The standard clothes he wore dissolved and reformed into a flowing, majestic stardust gown.
The heavy fabric swayed gently against an invisible cosmic wind, with fragments of distant nebulas woven deep into every fold.
His eyes, usually bright and mischievous, turned ethereal and terrifyingly solemn.
The sheer weight of his presence commanded the room.
Even the frenzied, mindless swarm of eggs crashing against the glass froze in mid-air, suppressed by a suffocating pressure that forbade them from advancing a single inch.
A clear, resonant chant slipped from his lips.
The sound carried the weight of an echo from the dawn of the universe, instantly drowning out the metallic screech of the Swarm.
“Coronet of Light Dust: Hymn of the Knights of Beauty, First Movement: Primordial Vowel: Charter of Beauty.”
“I am the echo of the Primordial before light.”
“I am the unformed yearning of the universe.”
“I am the starlight blooming in the dust.”
“I am the immortal constancy in the end.”
“I am the perfection reborn from the broken.”
“I am the silent truth in the clamor.”
[Elysian’s Note:
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