The icon in his mind lit up.
As for the rest of this conversation… he’d just have to keep winging it!
Chen gazed at the elegant lady and the handsome uncle before him, a swelling sense of hope filling his chest.
The future suddenly seemed bright, full of possibilities.
However, just as Ms.
Welt Yang took a quiet breath, her lips parting to speak once more—
BOOM—!!!!
A colossal, deafening impact, far more terrifying than any of the previous explosions, rocked the Herta Space Station from the outside.
The entire Master Control Zone lurched violently sideways, throwing everything and everyone off balance.
In an instant, all the lights flickered and died, plunging the vast chamber into absolute darkness, punctuated only by the frantic crimson of emergency alarms.
“What’s going on?!” Young Master Asta’s startled cry cut through the blackness, laced with a panic that hadn’t been there before.
“Gravity anchor failure!
We’ve lost attitude control!
The station is tumbling!”
“Detecting an energy signature of an ultra-gigantic lifeform!!”
“The outer armor plating of the Master Control Zone—it’s been breached!!”
The desperate shouts of the station’s staff mingled with the shrieking alarms, creating a cacophony of disaster.
The true catastrophe had arrived.
Chen was sent flying by the sudden, massive tremor, his head cracking against a nearby partition.
Stars exploded behind his eyes.
He struggled to find his footing, his hands scrambling for purchase on the vibrating wall, and forced himself to look up—out through the massive, now-cracked observation dome.
Against the infinite backdrop of the cosmos, a colossal, terrifying beast was violently embedded in the station’s hull.
It was a creature of mythic, indescribable proportions; just a fraction of one of its limbs was enough to blot out entire constellations.
The Doomsday Beast.
The shocking, iconic scene from the game’s opening was playing out before his very eyes, but with a terrifying reality that no cutscene could ever capture.
Worse, judging by the location of the breach, the residual force of its attack was aimed directly at the Master Control Zone.
“It’s the Doomsday Beast!
The Antimatter Legion’s ultimate weapon!” Uncle Himeko’s voice, calm and clear, sliced through the chaos.
He had already shifted into combat mode.
“Young Master Asta, organize the immediate evacuation of all non-combat personnel!
Dan Heng, March 7th, prepare to engage!
This is no Voidranger—we can’t afford to be careless!”
“Understood!” Dan Heng’s reply was sharp, the hum of his Cloud-Piercer spear connecting as he drew it from the void.
“Whoa!
Th-that thing is way too big!” March 7th exclaimed, but the bow of solid ice had already materialized in his hands, its string drawn taut. Read this novel at novelping.com for the best experience.
Qiong, the quiet girl who had appeared from the Stellaron, also gripped the baseball bat that had appeared from nowhere.
Her eyes were fixed on the titanic shadow outside the dome, showing not a flicker of fear.
Ms.
Welt Yang braced herself against a shuddering control panel.
The look behind her lenses had shifted in a heartbeat, the scholarly excitement replaced by an icy calm.
She shot a quick glance at Chen, her words clipped and precise.
“Stick close to us, or find shelter immediately!
This is not a battle you should be a part of!”
Chen leaned heavily against the partition, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
‘Holy crap!
Holy crap!
This thing looks so much more badass than it did in the game!’ he thought, his gaze drawn upward to the terrifying silhouette that filled the entire fractured dome.
The sheer, oppressive pressure of its destructive presence was nearly suffocating.
He could feel his legs turning to jelly, refusing to obey his commands.
And just as the viridian light began to glow at the tip of Dan Heng’s spear, just as March 7th’s ice-forged arrow was nocked and aimed, just as Qiong tensed her grip on her bat, ready to leap into the fray—
Just as everyone braced for the fight of their lives—
“Noisy.”
A voice, laced with clear and deep displeasure, drifted from nearby.
It was Ms.
Welt Yang.
She adjusted her glasses, her gaze fixed on the Doomsday Beast that was now practically within arm’s reach.
Then, she raised the hand holding her cane, the artifact known as the Star of Eden.
She didn’t shout an attack name.
She didn’t make a grand gesture.
Suddenly, directly in front of the Doomsday Beast’s monstrous head, a point of absolute, light-devouring blackness materialized from nothing.
The next second, that point expanded in utter silence, blooming into a slowly rotating, pitch-black sphere tens of meters in diameter.
A pseudo-black hole, radiating a terrifying gravitational pull.
The Doomsday Beast, which had been gathering energy for a destructive breath that could have vaporized the entire sector, didn’t even get to exhale.
Instead, the attack, along with a significant portion of its head, was mercilessly captured.
The silent sphere of nothingness swallowed, twisted, and tore it apart without a sound, without a flash of light.
The entire process was horrifyingly fast and deeply silent.
When the black hole dissipated as quietly as it had appeared, all that remained outside the Master Control Zone was the massive, partially mutilated torso of the Doomsday Beast, frozen for a single, stark moment in the void.
Then, as if all its power had been drained in an instant, it began to drift slowly and lifelessly away into deep space.
The world-ending weapon of the Antimatter Legion was now just a massive, silent piece of cosmic junk.
March 7th, Dan Heng, and Qiong were frozen in place, still holding their combat stances.
March 7th’s mouth hung wide open, the ice bow in his hand dissipating into motes of shimmering light without him even noticing.
“M-Ms.
Welt… is it… over?”
For the first time since Chen had met him, a look of pure shock cracked Dan Heng’s stoic facade.
Uncle Himeko glanced from Welt to the drifting wreckage outside the window, then raised an eyebrow and shook his head with a wry, disbelieving smile.
Qiong blinked, her expression blank.
She looked down at the baseball bat in her hands, then back outside, as if her brain was still struggling to process what had just happened.
As for Chen, he was completely and utterly stunned.
His jaw hung slack, and a single, frantic thought screamed on a loop in his mind:
‘?????”Wait… is this the right plot????”Holy moly!
If she just did that, then how is Sister Qiong… how is she supposed to awaken her Path?!’
He subconsciously glanced at Qiong, who was still standing beside him, holding her bat and looking just as bewildered as he felt.
Ms.
Welt Yang, meanwhile, lightly brushed some nonexistent dust from her cuff, as if she had done nothing more than flick away an annoying fly.
She turned, her gaze sweeping across the chaotic, damaged compartment before finally settling on the dumbfounded Chen.
Seeing his pale face and vacant stare, she seemed to assume he had been terrified by the Doomsday Beast and the subsequent display of power.
The coldness on her face softened.
She walked over to him, her voice returning to its previous gentle, scholarly tone.
“There is no need to be afraid, Mr.
Chen.
The threat has been neutralized.”
She paused, offering him a small, reassuring smile.
“It seems our conversation is destined to be interrupted.
I do hope you weren’t too startled.”
Chen stared at the elegant, composed woman before him—a woman who looked as if she had just brewed a cup of tea instead of single-handedly obliterating a Doomsday Beast.
He finally managed to force a sound from his throat.
“N-No… I’m fine.
Thank you… Ms.
Welt.”
[Elysian’s Note:
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