There are many in this world who have researched how to make an enemy of Lei Ting.
Ultimately, most of these research projects were abandoned.
The conclusions told them that if you wanted to avoid being sent away in a single encounter, you had to meet at least three conditions: be powerful, have nothing to do with metallic elements, and be able to threaten the things he valued rather than the man himself.
—*Who the hell could actually do that?!*
Setting aside the first point, the second was fundamentally impossible. The flesh, bone, and neural operations of carbon-based life were inextricably linked to metallic elements, just as the abnormal movement of calcium ions could cause tissues to spasm on their own.
Currently, the vast majority of life in the galaxy was carbon-based; the rare silicon-based lifeforms also used metals to enhance themselves or consumed them as food, fuel, and weaponry.
As for threatening the things the "Solar Star" valued... Hah, could you actually dismantle the Human Union and prevent him from stopping you?
However, right now, there was indeed a "being" that met all three requirements.
An Abomination transformed from an S-rank, a colossal space stele composed solely of non-metallic, inorganic elements.
It was born amidst a fire that spread across an entire planet. Within that fire burned gray-black rocky mountains of brittle, flaky structures; inside the stones grew distorted, shifting humanoid forms, encased and embedded by the rock, each with its own ecology, in every shape and form.
The entire planet had already been shrouded by such rock.
With a single glance, Lei Ting could identify that the fire was burning upon the rock itself.
Its properties were akin to oil shale.
Lei Ting closed his eyes briefly, then turned to meet the gaze of the giant stele that stood between him and the planet.
Behind the stele, its own floating flesh had divided into twelve massive portions, transforming into twelve different types of tectonic plates that cycled counter-clockwise in the darkness.
Meanwhile, changes were also occurring from the base to the edges of the stone monument—fire patterns below and flocks of birds above; a beautiful stone-carved mural was quietly emerging.
Lei Ting could feel that once the stone carving was officially completed, this stele would receive its name. The Tane race would fall completely under its control, and everything belonging to the "Emperor's Blade"—or rather, Sane Tane—would vanish entirely from the material realm.
*The weak leave home, the strong return.* This was the tradition of the Tane people. They were born as birds leaving the nest, powerful explorers and competitive warriors. This nature allowed them to find ways to adapt to and overcome even the most hostile ecological environments.
This flock of birds possessed a spirit of relentless struggle, much like a raging wildfire.
There were approximately two hundred million young Tane out in the galaxy at any given time. A small portion, like the competitive gamer "Boiling Rain" whom Lei Ting had met years ago, worked in various competitive fields on the Ringworld. The rest were scattered everywhere, returning home once every dozen years at the shortest, or perhaps spending their entire lives away at the longest.
*A fierce fire burning the birds...*
Lei Ting sighed softly.
"I..."
He took one last look at the lifeless, burning planet. He watched the seas covering its surface evaporate into space because of this tiny "sun," and saw a scalding rain pour down upon the fire, only for the flames to grow even more intense. The birds, "embraced" and "protected" by the giant rocks, left behind barely a trace of ash.
"...understand," he said.
He flicked his cloak. The pitch-black fabric fluttered in the microgravity of space, and a headpiece of armor—one he almost never wore—manifested.
Around him, golden-bright cubes appeared first—eight large ones and over a hundred small ones. they orbited him like planets around a sun, revolving at varying speeds.
Then came a black armored colossus nearly nine thousand meters tall. It emerged from the golden light behind him, standing tall in full plate, studded with dazzling, reflective gold nails. At first glance, it possessed a beauty of strength and style that seemed lacking in precision, yet its internal structure could not have been more perfectly suited for combat.
However, parts of its main torso and leg plating were not yet fully installed, revealing steel pillars as thick as buildings. Those were merely the "bones" used by this colossus mecha to bear pressure and eject driving force.
Golden energy light overflowed from the city-like mecha, faint yet impossible to ignore.
Even though a humanoid mecha didn't truly suit the requirements of actual combat, Lei Ting, as a human, was accustomed to this form of movement. Thus, although this mecha was still in the late stages of construction, he had brought it out anyway.
In any case, he wasn't afraid of someone remotely observing and cracking its structure later—if anything, if he had only used his battle suit from the start, its deterrent power might have been lower because this mecha already transcended the understanding of many.
Lei Ting blinked backward, merging into the mecha's chest along with the golden light.
A few breaths later, a synchronized *thrum—* echoed from every part of the grand colossus, followed by a hissing *pssh...* like a release of gas.
The colossus raised its head. The broad visor on its faceplate lit up with a blinding golden light. It slowly raised a hand and flexed its fingers.
With a reaching motion, it caught a ten-thousand-meter greatsword from a spiked golden halo that manifested above and behind it.
The density of both seemed excessively high, to the point that their mere presence began to influence the drifting direction of the surrounding asteroid belt.
And with a gentle, single-handed swing of that relatively narrow greatsword, it stirred a wave of gold in the vacuum of space.
Dust of "Star Alloy," incredibly small in volume, dissipated into the void like air. Merely by drifting, it struck the giant stele, gouging out countless tiny pits.
As if a star-dusted filter had been applied over a black background, the darkness of the deep sky descended. Where there was light, there was only the colossus mecha.
Now, the stele—which was only a hundred-odd meters tall even after its reinforced restructuring—looked utterly insignificant.
"I know what you want to do, 'Emperor's Blade'..."
The resonance of the superpowered metal dust transmitted his words while painting golden ripples in the darkness.
"...I promise you," he said. "It will not live to receive its name. And you will receive a direct battle, along with the irresistible death you crave."
And so, a verbal challenge...
Began ahead of time.
***
The battle did not end quickly, even though it was not a fair duel with a suspenseful outcome.
The terrifying regenerative power of a Xenodemon was displayed to its fullest upon the "Stele."
Sane Tane had absorbed too much soul power over the years, and the current "Stele" was backed directly by the "Spirit Depths." Although its energy level could not evolve to "Double-S," its energy was already virtually infinite.
Even Lei Ting could not achieve a swift victory without destroying the entire star system.
As long as energy remained and the constantly repairing core did not collapse, the "Stele" could repeatedly convert the eerie flesh-matter from the "Spirit Depths" to restructure its "body."
As for Lei Ting, he could only crush it again and again. With every pass, he filtered out a portion of the knowledge and memories held by Sane Tane, as well as the polluted souls once saved by the "Emperor's Blade."
They no longer possessed their original forms, let alone thoughts or memories. With nowhere to go, they could only turn into starlight by instinct, flying toward Lei Ting.
This time, Lei Ting did not reject them. He simply sent them toward the "Spirit Depths," allowing them to enter the "corona" of that superpowered sun, which was currently hundreds of thousands of kilometers thick.
The souls of the burning "Tane" were the same—
Long ago, when they lost their true home, they had already lost their own superpowered entities. Now, they had only managed to create a fragile embryo through the collective effort of their entire race over a thousand years.
But that light of the womb, regarded as a top-secret hope, had been swallowed whole by the "Stele" when the disaster struck.
Only two living things remained in this star system. This pair fought tirelessly for over two months, while the fires on the Tane homeworld burned for over two months as if they could never be extinguished.
Gradually, Lei Ting also discovered that the "Stele" possessed an instinct to protect the Tane people, but its method of protection was clearly and extremely flawed: it wanted to devour and assimilate the "spirits" of all Tane. Anyone who blocked it from doing so was judged as an enemy to be destroyed.
The outside world sensed the problem within the first week, but the magnetic field interference caused by Lei Ting's metal was too severe. Ships attempting to uncover the truth were intercepted far away.
Even the Collective could only watch from afar toward the direction of the exploding radiance, seeing the place called the "Four Heavens System" grow brighter and brighter.
In the last two days of the second week, the Human Resistance won a battle to save an unevacuated planet.
They worked in divisions, attempting to soothe the emotions of the local survivors and lead them away from the war zone.
Evenheiler was clearing away the "Gah" wreckage from the battlefield when he received an emergency communication from Morgan via the "Eternal." After urgently investigating the cause, he had intended to go see the situation for himself, but before he could even step out the door, he found that the external casing of the optical computer at his ear had inexplicably shattered.
The pieces fell to the ground, shards spilling into his collar.
That was Lei Ting forbidding him from taking action.
At the start of the second month, Lei Ting discovered that a Great Devourer nest had been built in the distant starry sky at some point.
The structure of that chitinous nest was extremely regular and rational, presenting a beautiful spiral shape.
Inside it was a Great Devourer whose entire body was snow-white, with brilliant iridescent colors at the tips of its wing covers. That was the S-rank superpowered "Architect," the sovereign of this calamitous race and the primary reason it had survived to this day.
It lay between its leaden-black offspring and its new mate, emitting a friendly and rational hiss toward Lei Ting from afar.
Out of respect for the "Emperor's Blade," Lei Ting did not return the "Architect's" greeting. Instead, he mustered all his strength, and amidst the roar of turbocharging and lever transmission, he shattered the newly restructured "Stele" before him with a single punch.
The giant stone face that resembled the lower half of the "Emperor's Blade" exploded, entering yet another cycle of restructuring.
...
By the latter half of the second month, the "Dragon Slayer" also arrived. She did not stay long, only looking at the "Stele" from a distance with a seemingly complex expression.
Lei Ting could feel that complexity. It was a mixture of joy, sorrow, hatred, pain, and almost every other emotion he could imagine. He could even feel that this great hunter had once thought of spending her life with someone, though that might have been only a fleeting, momentary thought...
"Compared to ordinary people, you at least don't have to worry about being forgotten after death."
He sighed softly. Holding a spear transformed from the greatsword, he pinned the "Stele" into the void. He raised a massive power hammer high in his right hand and brought it down with a thunderous crash.
"...Your 'old friend' will probably talk about you for the rest of her life. Would that make you happy?" As he spoke, he felt a moment of sentimentality. "If I were remembered like that, I wouldn't
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