A planet... could be "secretly replaced"?
Was that even possible? It defied all logic!
If anyone else had said this, Lei Ting would have found it hard to take seriously. But as "Imperial Blade" spoke while pitting his small stony planets against the hardness of the "Sea Lord’s" limbs, a powerful intuition told Lei Ting that this was likely the truth.
"That thing played the role of a 'homeworld' for a full twenty thousand years," Imperial Blade said. "During that time, every piece of matter upon it was disguised as something perfectly normal. They were harvested by the Tane, integrated into our bodies through every possible means, from diet to respiration—this permanently altered the Tane bloodline, to the point where, even now, we cannot intermarry with other races."
The Tane did not intermarry with outsiders... Lei Ting had heard rumors of this, but he had never looked into the specifics.
Hearing Imperial Blade now, it seemed this was a legitimate historical issue. And it wasn't that they "wouldn't," but that they "couldn't."
"The influence of forged matter?" Lei Ting asked.
"No, that matter was actually real... it’s just that it had been assimilated by 'it'." A fierce wind swept past, and Imperial Blade dodged to the side, reaching out to seize the neck of an attacker. He held up the slender, supple phantom of an Abrisakian for Lei Ting to see. "Just like these things. I imagine if the 'Sea Lord' wished, it could disguise itself as the 'Hegren Star Waters' once were, making it seem as though that wondrous City of Ten Thousand Waters still existed."
Because that was part of it.
Lei Ting’s expression became grave.
Though the galaxy was small compared to the entire universe, it still contained hundreds of billions of stars... to say nothing of the planets orbiting them.
Lei Ting didn't even want to imagine it. If the very planets where ordinary people lived their entire lives could be disguises undetectable by conventional means, and if beneath those disguises lay things that released subtle, far-reaching, and malignant pollution...
How the hell was this war supposed to be fought?
Lei Ting himself was fine; with "Unmoving," he wouldn't be affected by such things. But what about everyone else?
Ordinary people? Ordinary soldiers? Ordinary espers?
Without high-intensity mental stability, under an influence determined hundreds or thousands of years before one's birth, no amount of combat power would matter.
It was practically an act of God—similar to how ordinary espers felt when facing Lei Ting himself. In either case, if things got serious, one side was destined to melt away in an instant.
"The core of the 'Sea Lord' is almost certainly the King of Abrisak. He was once a wise ruler, and most of his subordinates were loyal ministers and brave generals.
"As loyal subjects, those people couldn't possibly have turned their blades against their King the moment things went wrong. Mindsets aren't that easy to switch."
As Imperial Blade spoke, he pointed toward the dense swarm of phantoms in the sea.
"That is why they died," he said.
"..." Lei Ting remained silent for a moment. As Imperial Blade began to engage the enemy in close quarters, he suddenly asked, "So, you’ve been fighting these things all this time?"
"Of course."
"Because of the Tane homeworld?"
"No." As Imperial Blade spoke, he leaped up and swung his heavy stone sword in a massive downward cleave, smashing a phantom onto a suddenly formed stone platform. It was torn to shreds against the jagged stalagmites. "Selecting targets and destroying them... it is a duty, 'Double S'! This is our duty as the strong! You protect a civilization, so you must do this!"
"That sounds incredibly arrogant," Lei Ting replied calmly. "Does your civilization need you to protect it in this way?"
"Stop pretending. Are you not an arrogant man yourself?" Imperial Blade laughed. "Asking such unnecessary questions... Ha! You wanted to know why I seek death? I’ll show you right now!"
He planted his sword and raised a wall of stone, instantly severing the connection between a heavily wounded phantom and the "Sea Lord." A stone stalagmite, shaped like a spear, gathered in his hand.
*Bang!!*
The stalagmite pierced the enemy, exploding into a firework of shards that scattered with immense kinetic energy and the heat of high-speed impact.
Lei Ting watched the spark of light burst. The flower bloomed within the darkness he projected, its fragments carving distinct straight lines through the vacuum, passing through golden light to strike the "Star Alloy" canopy and turn into dust. For a brief moment, they illuminated the polarized stardust above the darkness.
The target facing the brunt of the impact was mostly evaporated instantly. It could no longer maintain its form and quietly shriveled away. However, a dim spark of "Psionic Remnant" within it was bound by Imperial Blade’s energy, unable to return to the "Sea Lord." Yet, because of the Sea Lord's own shackles, it could not detach and allow the "Spirit" to fall to the "Spirit Depths."
Thus, under Lei Ting’s solemn gaze, that spark of light drifted for a moment before silently gravitating toward Imperial Blade’s psionic radiance. It attached itself quietly, bringing him a sliver of power—and with it, a tiny trace of... "pollution."
This situation was identical to the "Spirits" wandering around that massive "Solar Star."
"Just as meteorites are captured by a planet's gravity, and planets are bound by a star's... as long as a powerful esper exists, they will attract the 'Spirits' left behind by similar nearby lifeforms. You could call it a form of phototaxis."
Before Lei Ting could ask, Imperial Blade spoke first—he seemed to trust the barrier Lei Ting had raised. "Normally, this attraction can't compete with that space and the 'Torches' within it. But the situation is different now. Everything you see is bound by this monster, unable to return to their true spiritual home—what were the corresponding 'Torches' for Abrisak again?"
"The 'Coiled Tentacle' and the 'Great Vortex.' I won't go into their specific appearances," Lei Ting said. In this context, the "Torches" Imperial Blade mentioned could only refer to those Psionic Entities.
"You actually know??" Imperial Blade was stunned. "According to their system, that should be their highest level of classified information, shouldn't it? The kind only a King is permitted to know..."
"I am not like you," Lei Ting answered vaguely.
Though saying so seemed even more arrogant... it was the truth. He was different from all other espers. He could interact with that dark world for long periods, which allowed him to frequently enter and give "surprises" to the things eyeing ordered life. This was the primary reason there were no Aberrants around his psionic sun.
And as long as a powerful Psionic Entity existed on the Void Plane, an esper thousands of miles away might be able to sense it...
Therefore, except for a few entities with unique forms like "The Lover," Lei Ting actually knew which entities corresponded to almost every interstellar race in the galaxy. His perception was simply too keen.
"...Anyway," Imperial Blade decided not to ask how this "Double S" differed from the rest of them. "After killing these monsters, the 'Psionic Remnants' they bound will automatically merge into the one who rescued them, enhancing their power. But at the same time, the pollution contained within will accumulate, gradually mutating the savior into a shape no one wants to see, infecting their spirit and twisting their thoughts, turning us into new monsters."
He turned back and raised his hand toward Lei Ting from a distance. The latter looked closely and saw that the hand was covered by an extremely complex illusion. Once the illusion was dispelled, the true form of the hand was revealed: it looked like a mobile stone sculpture overgrown with eerie cysts and fleshy tentacles.
The petrification likely came from Imperial Blade’s own power, while the things resembling "Gah’s" hypertrophic, strange limbs were the result of the pollution from the Spirit Depths.
Lei Ting’s gaze was complex. As a "Limit Breaker" and a "Double S," he could naturally see that Imperial Blade’s mutation was not limited to the part he had shown.
Even the strength of the man's ability seemed to have been bolstered by the "Polluted Psionic Remnants" integrated over the years to a level approaching "Double S." However, his mental strength remained only at "S-class"...
And as everyone knew, no esper whose energy outweighed their spirit ever met a good end.
Sain Tane was running out of time.
If he did not want a terrifying monster named "Imperial Blade" to suddenly appear in the world one day, he had to embrace death before that moment arrived.
"Death can liberate both me and them."
Imperial Blade suddenly erupted with an unnaturally powerful force. Lei Ting clearly felt a crack appear in the man's spirit at that moment, and it had countless companions beside it.
"The Tane never shy away from death, but... as a builder, I failed to lead my mother civilization to a new peak. I’ve accepted that; the civilization has already chosen a successor better suited for the task...
"But as a warrior, I don't want to commit suicide in some corner of the stars. As a 'savior,' I want to see a new 'savior' take up the responsibility of hunting these things—just as I did back then, when I killed the 'Double S' who finally regained his senses before he died."
Before a massive, rapidly forming stone star, Imperial Blade turned back and stared fixedly at Lei Ting.
"It sounds selfish, but I want to ask you for a battle—a battle I cannot resist. 'Solar Star,' you must kill me, and then inherit everything I possess, both the responsibility and the resources in my hands!
"The echoes of the Galactic Empire have not faded, yet threats from beyond the galaxy have arrived. The vanguard of the Chemist is spread across the stars, but it is likely already heavily polluted... If, at a time like this, another disaster like the awakening of the Tane homeworld breaks out within the galaxy, then the fires of war will truly consume the galaxy once more!"
"..."
Lei Ting was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I can tell you don't use a spear often."
"...Huh?" Imperial Blade was momentarily dazed, but he reacted quickly. "I indeed do not use a spear often..."
"Then let me teach you how to use one," Lei Ting said. "If you're going to be a 'savior,' having a weakness is never good."
With that, he raised a hand, aimed it at the "Sea Lord" who had just broken free from the stone star's restraint, and suddenly clenched his fist!
*BOOM!!*
The "Sea Lord," which had been thrashing maniacally in the seawater, froze for a moment as if struck by a heavy blow.
Then, under Imperial Blade’s stunned gaze, the Sea Lord’s carapace shattered and its body twisted. Its twitching attempts at resistance were effortlessly brushed away. Ultimately, it was crushed into a writhing black sphere. A certain structure within was forced upward, eventually forming a palace atop the black orb.
The hardened palace then saw its gates disintegrate and its roof and pillars collapse, exposing a beautiful figure within who appeared to be in a deep slumber.
What a sight of beauty it was... like the concept of "Beauty" on the "Headmaster" that would flee the individual the moment it was discovered—no, this sleeping King of Abrisak, his features were flawless. It surpassed the Headmaster's "Beauty."
He was a person who could truly make others willing to die for him with a single smile or frown.
Even Imperial Blade suffered a moment of fatal trance before such beauty.
But Lei Ting was unmoved.
He simply raised his hand, letting a pitch-black spear fall from the golden radiance into his grip, weighing it casually.
Just as he had done before throwing the cluster bomb to protect his classmates and comrades years ago, a golden light washed over the spear in his hand.
In an instant, the weapon was "Dye-Lit."
"First," Lei Ting said, "find the target's vital point, rather than simply targeting the torso or armor."
A powerful sense of danger made Imperial Blade instinctively back away.
"Second..."
Lei Ting raised his hand and turned his body, charging his power in a lunge. The spear shone brilliantly in his hand, and a piece of radiant golden metal at the tip emitted a blinding light—
Imperial Blade realized what was about to happen. His heart rate spiked, and a surge of intense excitement spread through his entire body. It was the instinctive reaction of life facing overwhelming power, and the rational thrill of knowing his goal was about to be achieved.
"Then," he heard Lei Ting say, "destroy it. Just as I will destroy you in the future."
—Light erupted, magnificent and blinding.
At this moment, both Imperial Blade and the Combined Fleet could see a terrifying, blinding radiance pierce through the "Star Alloy" barrier that was no longer being deliberately maintained. Immediately following, a psionic star with a diameter of eight thousand kilometers exploded right before their eyes... to the point where screams and the momentary, mind-numbing blindness became the norm within the fleet, as if the barriers designed to filter the flares of real stars did not exist.
But soon, people realized they had not been destroyed by this light, nor would they be. Because the power of the "Solar Star" was protecting them. That golden light counteracted almost every shockwave from within, making everything in the vicinity... as unmoving as a mountain.
Thousands of miles away, Imperial Blade slowly lowered the heavy sword he had used to block the intense light and energy surge.
He saw the figure within the light.
Long hair fluttering, cloak billowing, the armor usually hidden beneath the broad fabric was outlined in hard, cold lines by the blazing radiance.
Everyone knew that "Solar Star," this young powerhouse, had torn through the darkness of the canopy... and in the days to come, he would surely tear through more, and more, and more of the things that once existed within the galaxy.
—Just as he intended to do.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 灵思 | Psionic Remnants | Ling-si; spiritual thoughts or remnants left behind by deceased or assimilated beings. |
| 火炬 | Torches | High-level psionic entities in the Void Plane that act as beacons for specific races. |
| 盘触 | Coiled Tentacle | One of the psionic entities/Torches associated with the Abrisak Empire. |
| 大涡轮 | Great Vortex | One of the psionic entities/Torches associated with the Abrisak Empire. |
| 染光 | Dye-Lit / Dyeing with Light | A technique where Lei Ting coats an object or weapon in his golden psionic energy. |
| 亚布里萨克王 | King of Abrisak | The ruler of the Abrisak Empire, currently the core of the Sea Lord. |
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