Gales howl, stars burn, and snow falls from the heavens.
People are dying—dying for no reason at all.
Life can slip away because of a stray bullet, a rock, a word, or a scrap of paper. Then, everything pure falls, seeping into the darkest depths of the dark, finding their rest in the "Spirit’s Depths."
The living have perished, the silent remain silent, and the relationships between races and polities grow more distant by the day. No one can return to the era of nine years ago, when a hundred different races could walk the same street.
This is the present, the reality unfolding across the starry sea.
A precision microchip of shimmering silver glowed in the darkness. Lei Ting looked down at it. A moment later, his gloved fingertips twitched slightly, and this tiny product of composite metal technology—a version hand-crafted by a specific artisan—was crushed into a small, mangled lump of metal, emitting a crisp snap and reflecting mottled light.
A tiny, miniature model of a frozen planet appeared in his hand.
Floating outside this model were several layers of ring structures, carrying a vast array of heavy industrial machinery: negative pressure suction units, diversion trenches, purifiers, and more.
It was exactly like the planet standing before him.
In the darkness, the tall shadow wearing a golden crown slightly raised his head.
He tossed the model aside, casting it through a flash of golden light back into the material universe.
Simultaneously, in the distant reaches of space, an armada composed of hundreds of thousands of spacecraft emerged from the shadows. This interstellar army, vast enough to nearly fill half a sun, was entirely unmanned. It lacked even an AI for management.
Every one of its operations was carried out by a golden radiance draped over it. That was the will of the "Sun Star," and the reason why this Double-S rank esper had never displayed truly overwhelming power during these past years.
……
"…I have a bad feeling." Ibon the Abomination suddenly rose from its seat.
By now, its body had long been reconstructed, but for the sake of overall structural integrity, it had not yet left its life-support cyst.
Of course, even so, it had already separated the "Red Giant" from itself. Now, an Ibon grew atop the cyst while a three-headed blade-tailed hound slumbered within it—a truly grotesque sight.
"A bad feeling? What’s wrong?"
Hisa, the white-haired fungal girl, looked a bit dazed, though she didn't put down the data pad in her hands. "What could possibly go wrong here? Could someone actually cross the barriers of darkness and space to find us?"
"It’s hard to say…" Ibon’s expression was strange. "How is the planet?"
"Without activating the 'Sanctuary' system, we can't seize control," Hisa said. "'Ghost' is resisting us; its mental strength is too high. If we keep grinding like this, it will take at least another decade or two before we can open the master control system of 'Babylos 01'."
Long ago, Ibon and Hisa had piloted the Star Civilization’s ring-shaped research station to abduct the wandering planet Babylos 01—where "Ghost" resided—into the Ethereal Plane.
Because of this, a large portion of the power Ghost had projected outward lost contact with its main body. This left the external fragments of Ghost without a core, forced to act only on pre-set plans, while the portion remaining on Babylos 01 grew weak.
Since then, the two "people" and the abominations under their command had engaged in a long war of attrition with Ghost.
The former group actually only wanted to obtain the master control of Babylos 01, claiming they wouldn't kill Ghost, but Ghost’s response was essentially: *Do I look like I believe you?*
Thus, the two sides engaged in "harmonious and friendly communication." The results weren't exactly zero, but they were close enough. Since the fighting started, Babylos 01 suffered avalanches every day. Not a single avalanche failed to stoke Ghost’s fury further, but the corruptive nature of the abominations and the Ethereal Plane made it afraid to fully release its perception and power. Currently, it was being subjected to a sustainable "death by a thousand cuts."
For some reason Hisa couldn't fathom, Ibon’s conduct this time was uncharacteristically aggressive yet cautious. It never allowed any high-level abominations—including Hisa, the Beholder, or itself—to approach Babylos 01.
According to the Beholder’s guess, this might be because Babylos 01 was currently situated in the danger zone at the center of this ring-shaped research station, "Sanctuary 9353." Or perhaps because…
"Theoretically, when Babylos 01’s systems activate, its entire interplanetary space will become a dead zone filled with plasma," Ibon said, answering Hisa’s unspoken doubt. "Under the constraints of the 'Sanctuary,' the terrifying heat will crush everything. It does not discriminate."
"Fair enough," Hisa clicked her tongue.
No wonder Babylos 01 had water but no trace of a "natural world." It was often said that the most precious thing about a normal planet was a harmonious and perfect ecological environment; everything else took a backseat to that. But no matter how good an ecosystem was, it was useless if placed on a planet that was itself a weapon.
"Where is that little girl?" Ibon asked. "The one we captured a few days ago… have her sense the direction of her body. We need to move further away from it."
"Alright." As Hisa spoke, a dark, reddish-black glint flashed in her eyes. "Anything else?"
"Lure the 'Sea Lord' toward the Human Union. Ensure the 'Sun Star' makes an appearance in the material universe as much as possible," Ibon arranged methodically. "Otherwise, I can't shake the feeling that things are dangerous."
"Understood." Hisa delegated the task. "Anything else?"
"…" This time, Ibon paused before saying, "Track the movements of the Human Union Resistance. If you can find their headquarters, destroy it and frame the Human Union Council. If you still can't find it, destroy some Human Union planets and frame the Resistance."
"You’re really making us look like villains," Hisa complained while making the arrangements.
"Are we not?" Ibon countered. "I—"
He seemed about to say more, but at that moment, with a thunderous *BOOM!!*, the entirety of Sanctuary 9353 suddenly underwent a violent tremor.
Immediately following, the inner walls cracked and peeled away, flesh-like structures were torn asunder, and the metal framework shrieked under unbearable strain. The massive construct’s rotation was forcibly halted, yet its immense inertia still tried to drive it forward… until, under the decision of another power, it was nearly twisted into a heap, falling into eternal darkness.
Amidst this brief but apocalyptic upheaval, Ibon’s face changed drastically. It shrunk down, trying to dive back into the cyst to fuse with the slumbering, recovering "Red Giant," but in the next second, it discovered with despair that it couldn't even move.
At this moment, every object containing metallic elements lost its autonomy.
Structures snapped, matter floated… metal was prostrating before its monarch. The megastructure orbiting the planet silently split open with a crack thousands of meters high. Below was a thick carpet of flesh, to the sides were heavy metals; inside, the gravity and life-support systems were being demolished, and outside was the near-vacuum of the "Ethereal."
A vacuum vortex flashed for a brief instant, then vanished just as quickly.
Because a brilliant golden light had fallen into that crack—it was "sunlight" that should not have existed in the Ethereal Plane. It descended along with a tall, upright figure, painting the likeness of light within this bloody, enclosed space.
Ibon was stripped from its cyst. In a state of tense, terrified struggle, it was sent into the sky along with the dog that had died once with it.
But when it truly landed before the newcomer, sensing the majestic, sea-like radiance on all sides, it suddenly seemed to give up struggling. It slumped down entirely, forced to stare with its horrific eyes into the gaze of this bona fide "visitor from beyond."
"Good evening," Lei Ting’s voice was gentle.
Golden sunlight diffused everywhere; every second, abominations were being evaporated or torn apart. He did not care about the lives of these alien enemies, nor did he care if they suffered.
"Ah, good evening." Ibon seemed somewhat deflated. "How did you find this place…" it muttered, then seemed to realize something. "Oh… right. You are a 'Double-S.' So unusual, so extraordinary…
"So, you’ve been faking it for five years, haven't you?"
"Faking it?" Lei Ting tilted his head, appearing as if he didn't understand what it was saying.
"Faking it, ah, faking it. Of course you were," Ibon’s smooth voice said softly. "While saying you don't crave understanding, you disguised yourself as something ordinary people *could* understand… didn't you? You turned yourself from a catastrophic natural phenomenon into 'a human who is overly powerful, but can be hurt, has weaknesses, and has plenty of things he cannot do.' The funny thing is, even I was deceived by you."
"Or perhaps this is the real me," Lei Ting’s voice remained calm. "Or perhaps all of those are 'me'."
"That is simply a grand joke," Ibon muttered. "Tell the truth, 'Sun Star,' why exactly are you doing all this?"
"You don't know? Oh…" Lei Ting thought for a moment. "It’s probably because I hate riddles."
"Hate riddles?"
"Every question is left without an answer, every matter has no conclusion, every reason for a choice is buried in the shadows, every sentence is spoken in circles… Is this fun? Is it satisfying? Does it bring you enough power to resist me?"
The tall man wearing the golden crown folded his arms, surveying his surroundings with interest. Every word he spoke sent a ripple through the golden sunlight.
"I know I am an apple. An apple sitting right there. Anyone who sees it wants a bite. Though not everyone can, no one ever told me *why*." Lei Ting sighed softly. "Clearly, if they just gave me a reason, I would give them what they wanted… Sigh, Your Highness, do you think people feel that what they snatch for themselves is more reliable than what they receive by asking?"
"…" 'Your Highness'? This title caused Ibon’s face to twist violently. It did not respond to Lei Ting, for it could see Hisa floating up as well.
Now, the white intelligent fungal strain writhed, shedding its human form, yet it could not escape the shackles of that golden sunlight.
This was simply a nightmare, a catastrophe, Ibon thought.
At this moment, it realized more clearly than anyone—
The "Sun Star" hadn't come seeking answers.
This esper, so powerful he was destined from the start to be written into the annals of history, had begun to peel away the facade he had maintained for five years. He had begun to skip levels in this game precisely because the questions that had puzzled him had already found their answer.
"Then…" Ibon made one last attempt to struggle, only to find that not only were its limbs and brain completely disconnected, but even its neural electrical signals were starting to malfunction. "…All these years, what exactly have you been thinking, 'Sun Star'?"
***
