Just as Mercy was focusing all her attention on trying to tame the unruly destruction energy within her, at least to a state where it wouldn’t casually detonate stars, a completely different sensation pierced her awareness like an icy needle.
In the distance, where empty void had been, a point of pure white light began to glow.
It was not a holy radiance.
It was a “whiteness” so extreme it was unsettling, as if it could devour all color and warmth.
It expanded rapidly, like a drop of pure white ink spreading across the canvas of the universe.
Wherever it passed, even the background starlight seemed to dim and fade, assimilated into a part of the void.
Accompanying this pure white light was an indescribable pressure.
It was not purely a physical force, but more like a conceptual erosion, a sense of fate that “all things will eventually return to silence and heat death,” acting directly upon the soul.
The destruction energy already surging within Mercy, stimulated by this power of the same origin but more purely “ideological,” began to seethe slightly, as if both responding and…
on guard?
“!!” Mercy felt a chill run down her spine (if her energy body had a spine).
An instinctive sense of crisis made her want to jump.
“Daria!” she cried out mentally.
“What is that?!” Daria’s hologram also appeared unusually serious.
She clutched her rabbit plush toy even tighter.
[High-energy reaction detected…
Energy spectrum analysis…
Matching database…
Lord Ravager—”Zephyro”!] “Zephyro?!” Mercy’s mind went blank.
Fragments of information about this Lord Ravager surged forth: obsessed with the beauty of the moment of destruction, believing that destruction was the ultimate art.
Encountering him meant a “painless” death, for everything would instantly return to nothing in the extreme light and heat.
In the game’s storyline, this guy wasn’t exactly what you’d call a “good guy”!
Although his aesthetic pursuit of destruction sounded like a morbid kind of romance, Mercy had absolutely no desire to become material for his next “artistic creation.” She had barely crawled back from the brink of death and become an inexplicable Lord Ravager.
She didn’t want to be “sparred” out of existence by a colleague right after coming on the job!
“What…
what is he doing here?” Mercy’s voice carried a tremor she hadn’t even noticed.
Faced with such an existence, even with Emanator-level power, she was still a “newbie” at heart, no different from the ordinary girl she had been not long ago.
[What else could it be?] Daria’s tone was urgent.
[You’re a new Lord Ravager, the eighth, personally “blessed” by Nanook.
Of course the other Lords would sense it.
Zephyro is clearly interested in his “new colleague” and the “aesthetics of destruction” your birth might have produced, so he came to “take a look”!] “Take a look?
I’m afraid he’ll ‘look’ me right out of existence!” Mercy felt like crying but had no tears.
“I’m still a defenseless weak woman!
I just got this new power and don’t even know how to use it!” […] Daria seemed speechless at her self-assessment.
[You can punch through planetary debris with one hit, and you call that ‘defenseless’?
But…
you’re right.
Meeting Zephyro right now is not a good idea.
His philosophy is obsessive and dangerous.
Who knows if he wants to ‘appreciate’ the ‘beauty’ of you, a new Lord, blooming in destruction energy?] “Then what are we waiting for?!
Run!” Mercy made her decision on the spot.
Forget practicing control, forget getting familiar with her new power.
Survival came first!
Without another word, she mobilized all her energy.
Mostly her familiar [Martial Artist] energy and system energy, carrying along the unruly destruction force, she turned and blasted off in the direction opposite the pure white light, accelerating with all her might.
Her speed was incredible, like a meteor streaking through the darkness, instantly putting more distance between herself and the red giant.
But the pure white light behind her was even more impossibly fast.
It didn’t pursue in a straight line, but spread like an invisible wind, permeating and seeping through space itself, draining it of “color” and “vitality” as it passed, leaving it pale and dead.
The distance between them didn’t widen.
Instead, it shrank at a terrifying speed.
“He’s catching up!
You son of a Zephyro, I have plans!
What do I do, Daria?!” Mercy screamed in her mind as she pushed herself to go faster.
She could clearly feel that pure, obsessive will for ultimate “silence,” clinging to her like a shadow.
[Calm down!
Don’t panic!] Daria was also tense, but remained composed.
[You’re a Destruction Emanator, and so is he.
On the level of the Path, you’re equals!
He might have more experience, but it won’t be easy for him to take you down!] “But I don’t want to fight him!
I just want to run!” Mercy wailed, feeling the “whiteness” behind her growing closer.
The cold intent to turn everything into “nothing” was nearly seeping into her energy core.
[Then find a way to run faster!] Daria shouted.
[Think!
What other trump cards do you have?!] Trump cards?
A flash of inspiration struck Mercy.
The ticket!
The [Astral Express Single-Use Group Ticket]!
She had originally planned to find a safe place to study it before using it, but now it seemed she had no choice.
“Daria!
Activate the ticket!
Now!” Mercy practically roared.
[Understood!] Daria knew the urgency of the situation.
Her small hands moved rapidly across the system panel.
[Astral Express Single-Use Group Ticket (Luxury Compartment Edition) — Activated!
Target locked: random safe coordinates!
Initiating!] HUMM—!
A warm golden light, radiating the energy of exploration and the unknown, suddenly burst from Mercy.
This light was completely different from the dark gold of destruction and the pure white of Zephyro.
It was full of vitality and possibility, the very power of the “Trailblaze” Path.
A massive holographic ticket, formed of light, unfolded behind her, displaying complex star charts and coordinate runes.
Powerful spatial fluctuations began to tremble, and a stable, inviting spatial passage was rapidly taking shape.
Just then, something unexpected happened.
In her desperate flight, Mercy had poured all her energy, including the volatile destruction energy, into her speed.
The “Trailblaze” energy released by the ticket’s activation seemed to resonate with her desperate will to escape.
BOOM!
She felt an unprecedented thrust from behind.
It wasn’t a physical push, but rather space itself seemed to be “making way” for her, “boosting” her escape.
Her speed multiplied several times over.
Her whole form blurred into a streak of golden light as she plunged into the still-stabilizing spatial passage.
Behind her, the pure white light that had nearly reached her original position suddenly halted.
At the core of the light, a vague humanoid silhouette formed of pure white light was barely visible.
He (or “it”) seemed to feel a trace of surprise at the sudden eruption of “Trailblaze” power from Mercy, so different from destruction.
And perhaps…
an even deeper “interest.” A low, magnetic voice, yet utterly devoid of emotion, seemed to resonate directly in the void, penetrating the distance and reaching Mercy’s ears just as she was halfway into the passage: “Newborn compatriot…
why does your ‘destruction’ carry the taint of ‘Trailblaze’?
This fleeing posture…
is it also a unique prelude to ‘annihilation’?
How…
interesting.” The tone was flat, yet carried the focused attention of one appraising a work of art.
Mercy shuddered.
“Goodbye forever!
Who’s your compatriot?!
I’m still a child!
No appointments!
Go play with your own destruction mud balls!” Mercy shouted back without turning her head, using her last bit of strength to dive fully into the spatial passage.
SWOOSH—!
Just as Zephyro’s pure white light was about to touch the passage’s entrance, the spatial passage contracted sharply and vanished completely into the void, as if it had never existed.
Only the space, rendered pale and dead by Zephyro’s power, and the distant red giant, still slowly burning, remained.
The pure white humanoid silhouette hovered in place for a moment, as if savoring the brief and peculiar chase.
“Carrying the key of ‘Trailblaze,’ yet bearing the crown of ‘Destruction’…
A panicked escape is also a necessary entropy increase…” he murmured to himself.
In his pure white eyes, visions of dying stardust seemed to swirl.
“Lord Nanook…
this creation of yours seems…
quite different.” He showed no annoyance at the target’s disappearance.
Instead, he seemed to have discovered a uniquely fascinating “unfinished work of art” worth savoring.
Finally, the pure white light slowly receded, disappearing into the dark backdrop of the cosmos as if it had never been there.
Only the silent vacuum remained, telling the story of the breathtaking chase in which a newly minted Lord Ravager had used “Trailblaze” power to flee from a veteran Lord Ravager faster than a scared rabbit.
Meanwhile, deep within the spatial passage, surrounded by flowing, kaleidoscopic lights, Mercy finally let out a long breath.
Her entire energy body nearly went limp with relief.
“Good grief…
that scared me to death…” She patted her (nonexistent) chest, still shaken.
“The workplace environment for Lord Ravagers is way too hostile!
Colleagues meet and immediately want to do ‘art appreciation’?” Daria’s hologram also sighed in relief and said with exasperation, [Now you’re scared?
Who was it earlier that wanted to go see the ‘beautiful Celenova’?] Mercy: “…That was then, this is now.
But seriously, that ticket really came through!
If it weren’t for it, I’d probably be Zephyro’s masterpiece right now, ‘without any pain.'” [Hmph, you got lucky.
The Trailblaze energy in the ticket resonated with your will to escape, unleashing an extraordinary spatial jump capability.] Daria analyzed.
[But because it was activated in such a hurry, the coordinates were completely random.
We have no idea where we’ll end up.] “Anywhere is fine!” Mercy said, still shaken.
“As long as I don’t run into dangerous colleagues like Zephyro again!
Right now, I just want to find a quiet place to study how to control this power, and then…
figure out how to find Robin!” She stared at the strange, distorted spacetime rushing past outside the passage, her heart filled with anxiety about the unknown road ahead, and a hint of relief at having survived.
At least she had escaped.
From a Lord Ravager.
Using an Astral Express ticket.
No one would believe this story even if she told it.
Though, a Lord Ravager escaping from another Lord Ravager?
That had to be a first in the entire universe.