The moment they met, Lei Ting wasted no words, and the enemy was in no position to speak. Bolstered by the enhancements the ‘Spirit’s Depths’ provided to Aberrants, the latter charged straight at him, clearly intent on a mutual destruction.
At that moment, for the first time in history, the golden sun that had always sat enthroned at the heart of the Human Federation moved.
First came a flash of golden light, followed by the expansion of glorious flames. A golden disc emerged from behind Lei Ting, swelling in an instant—it was a segment of the ‘Super-power Sun’s’ corona, burning in the vast, endless space-time behind his pitch-black cloak like a miniature star.
Lei Ting remained expressionless. He spread his arms and fell backward into that divine well of radiant fire.
A few breaths later, the flames exploded outward like a solar flare. A sharp blade of fire extended, wide on one side and narrow on the other, resembling an uneven flaming shuttle or two blades fused together.
From within the radiance, a pair of massive, heavy-armored hands reached out, seized the blazing light-spear, and snapped it with a forceful wrench!
A golden halo expanded, followed by the release of ‘Immovable.’ A solid domain the size of a common star system was established, with the ‘Sun’ radiating brilliance at its center.
And within that ‘Sun,’ a colossus nearly nine thousand meters tall quietly emerged.
It had no network ports, no AI-assisted controls, and its dense clusters of conduits lacked maintenance access. Every section had built-in independent systems and preset commands, unified under the control of a central operator. Yet, there was no control panel—only super-power and mental resonance.
This was a mecha, a magnificent megastructure that only its creator could pilot.
Nearly twenty years ago, it had made a fleeting appearance among the now eternally burning tombs of a certain civilization.
Now, facing thirteen powerful enemies with diverse abilities and rapidly surging energy levels—thirteen prepared foes who had long ago discarded their flesh and most metallic elements—this man-made titan reappeared.
And it greeted the enemy with a violent, jet-flamed toss.
—*Boom!!*
In the distance, within a half-ruined giant city fixed between reality and illusion by massive biological tentacles, a strange multi-limbed model rotating silently inside a pillar of murky mist let out a thunderous roar. Half of its form dissipated into nothingness.
This happened right in front of Hisa, the current ‘Progenitor’ of the ‘Commister’ within the galaxy.
That model represented the Aberrant just struck by Lei Ting’s light blade. On the base releasing a strange force field to stabilize the mist pillar beneath it, the word ‘Lietu’ was written in the language of the Galactic Empire.
“A precise snipe,” Hisa marveled. “Among thirteen unfamiliar targets, he accurately chose the one that should be prioritized!”
“‘Lietu’? I remember that fellow’s ability was to construct an alternate space with rules for asymmetric combat games...”
Beside her, ‘Aberrant Eibon’ leaned in elegantly, glancing at the mist pillar. “...Correct. That is the one. Furthermore, after the ‘Change,’ its restrictions are being lifted, and its abilities have begun to evolve...”
“Indeed. ‘Solar Star’ perfectly avoided the fate of being dragged into the enemy’s home field.”
Hisa spoke as she observed the battlefield from hundreds of different coordinates across the starry sky and the ‘Spirit’s Depths’ through her perception.
“Moreover, it is currently in poor condition and must prioritize self-repair,” she said. “If it waits to recover naturally, ‘Solar Star’ will have crushed several of our ‘Special Envoys’ to death by then. But it matters not; we still have the ‘Green of Life’...”
“With her here, they shall stand on invincible ground!”
Before the massive fragment of the golden sun, a ghostly green orb of light, also like a celestial body, suddenly shuddered. Among the omnidirectional patterns of horizontal pupils within it, one flashed with light.
The green halos and streamlines already linked to the cores of the twelve ‘companions’ brightened, and the one corresponding to ‘Lietu’ delivered a surge of light in an instant.
Within the mist pillar, the phantom of ‘Lietu’ was rapidly restored.
“As expected of the ‘Green of Life’,” Hisa sighed. “Even with limited energy, such power is still too formidable... How did you manage to harvest her back then?”
“We merely turned ordered life into disordered life, for chaos and disorder are the eternal truths.” Aberrant Eibon maintained an elegant posture, slowly stroking his hands. “Just like you—”
‘Chaos is the eternal truth’?
Good grief. It turned out the things these guys said to ‘Jiahe’ weren’t just lies; they had even managed to deceive themselves?
To this, Hisa subtly expressed her thoughts: “Bullshit.”
“...” Aberrant Eibon looked at her silently.
“Ah, my apologies.” Hisa covered her mouth in mock surprise. “How could I say such a thing... it must be the influence left behind by my two ‘mothers’!”
“...” Aberrant Eibon’s brow twitched; the visage of the ‘Red Giant’ nearly manifested.
Then, a deep, powerful voice suddenly came from nearby: “They did not possess such personality traits.”
“How could that be?” Hisa said with a smile. “Does anyone truly know what Princess Heather was like before she established a link with the ‘Alarm Bell’? Respected ‘Commander’?”
“They and them—every one of them was born because of ‘them’,” the Commander said. “Therefore, from the very beginning, your hypothesis is invalid, because a ‘Heather who did not link with the Alarm Bell’ does not exist.”
“Soul after soul that should have been free, their stances and lives predestined before birth...” Hisa sighed melancholically. “Don’t you think that’s too cruel?”
Aberrant Eibon remained silent, but the Commander said indifferently, “As a part of the ‘Commister,’ you are the one least qualified to say that. And... ‘invincible ground’? You speak too boldly, Hisa.”
Hisa let out a light chuckle and opened her mouth to speak, but a deafening roar suddenly exploded beside her.
She shut her mouth instantly and turned to look. To her shock, she found that within the mist pillar, more than half of the projections had shattered and were currently undergoing reorganization with the support of the ‘Green of Life.’
The ‘Green of Life’ itself had also taken a severe hit. If not for the illusory smoke swirling around it—smoke that continuously dampened external impacts—it might have died already!
“In this world, no one can stand on ‘invincible ground’ for long,” the Commander said slowly. “I know you are confused as to why I didn’t let them fully prepare before launching the raid to better cover for the other team...”
Hisa’s expression grew tense, and she remained silent.
“...Because if they exerted too much power, it wouldn’t be a probe and a diversion anymore,” the Commander whispered, “but rather delivering themselves to their own destruction.”
“Is an ‘Unbound Body’ truly that powerful?” Hisa asked quickly.
“The ‘Unbound Body’ was the most perfect form of ‘us’ in the original concept,” the Commander said. “Infinite and unrestrained, controlled by the free mind. Beyond that, whether it be ‘Awakening,’ ‘Ascension,’ or the ‘Degeneration’ you now call ‘Change’ or ‘Transmutation,’ they are all merely means to reach that state. Whether innate or acquired, once we truly step into that realm, we shall break free from all shackles...”
“So, even you yourselves must call that process ‘Degeneration’?” Aberrant Eibon suddenly asked. “You are well aware that it is a ‘willing fall’?”
“Sometimes falling is not giving up.” The Commander walked forward slowly, his words heavy with meaning. “Perhaps it is merely the final step before rising.”
He—or ‘it’—spoke while looking at the black mist pillar.
The simulated golden light within the pillar illuminated his faceplate and the two points of burning crimson fire beneath the eye sockets.
If Lei Ting were here, he would definitely perceive that it wasn't fire, but a cold, blazing, and twisted obsession.
“To escape that eternal destruction, ‘my’ ‘compatriots’ destroyed their own forms in advance. But I think ‘I’ do not care about them...”
He leaned his hands on the table, staring at the dazzling golden light in the center of the monitoring mist pillars, and spoke softly.
“...‘I’ only want those lives to continue, to continue as themselves. Those weaklings, those who cannot fight for themselves—I fight to protect their future, and for that, I am willing to sacrifice everything of my own.”
“...Of course, that was only... once upon a time.”
He gave a short laugh.
“‘I’ have fallen this far not to burn myself to light the way for others again,” he said. “I am to become the ‘Commander’ of this great darkness, until I return to the stars and make that world into the way I want it to be!”
***
“There is a significant void in this world. If it isn't filled, it means destruction. Someone has to fill it.” In the cafe, Evenheiler watched the pedestrians passing by outside the window, his expression wistful. “And I... am also a part of it?”
“Perhaps.” Lei Ting was noncommittal. The sunlight outside was as fierce as midsummer, streaming through the window frames and casting sharp outlines across his cheek.
To the fate of civilization and the galaxy, the individual ‘Evenheiler Kang’ was not actually important; he was far from becoming a ‘void.’
But to the individual ‘Lei Ting,’ he was important—very important.
So important that if he were lost, ‘Lei Ting’ would feel as though he himself had become a void.
“...Does it have to be you?” Evenheiler asked in a raspy voice. “I don’t believe there’s no other way. This is the common destiny of everyone. Since you can decide who gets sacrificed, you must give people the right to fight for their own fate.”
To this, Lei Ting pondered. Lei Ting thought.
Lei Ting said, “No.”
“...” Evenheiler clenched his fists. He felt like this wasn't the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth... time he had been this angry with this guy.
After a long while, he let out a long sigh and relaxed his fists once more.
“You are destroying yourself. You don’t—you don’t intend to live at all. After you achieve your goal, you will let the name ‘Solar Star’ vanish from the starry sky...”
He spoke softly, with sadness.
“You know there are hardships ahead, and someone always has to pay the price. And without asking anyone’s opinion, you’ve unilaterally decided to pay that exorbitant price yourself. Right? Lei Ting?”
“You think too highly of me, Even,” Lei Ting said. “Perhaps I just want to manipulate the future I want in my own way.”
He watched calmly—watching that blonde hair, or those blue eyes, or the darkness, or that patch of starry sky.
That beautiful starry sky that eternally repeated the cycle of ‘birth’ and ‘extinction.’
He knew those thirteen enemies were evolving toward ‘Double-S’ rank—just like the ‘Emperor’s Blade’ back then. After their Aberrant transformation, their original super-powers would inevitably change, and their energy levels would soar.
But he also knew that in the far distance, a mass of burning red gel, an alien woman who had slain a dragon alone in her youth, a spiraling palace of reinforced chitin in the stars... and over a dozen other figures were rushing toward this place.
The ‘Recorder’s’ pen and notebook, the ‘Gazer’s’ iron Earth—they too silently emerged nearby. And a cracked statue of an angel already stood in the distance, slowly lowering its hands to reveal a face whose myriad forms never strayed from rage.
The golden star sat motionless in the darkness, but it showed no inclination to join the battle. Instead, it hung quietly at the intersection of the lines connecting the surrounding planets.
Brilliance radiated in all directions, yet the incarnations of reason and emotion remained so far apart.
Under the ‘sunlight,’ Evenheiler placed his hands on the table.
He stared at Lei Ting, his gaze carefully tracing the other’s long black-and-silver hair, the half-mask with its mechanical texture, and that young, handsome face.
A strange sensation surged in his heart. He didn’t know what it was, but he was certain that at this moment, a fire had been lit within him.
A fire that wanted to burn through everything.
It was both familiar and foreign to him...
But that didn't stop him from utilizing it with a clear mind.
“Then,” driven by that fire, the blonde man’s question cut straight to the point: “Your so-called ‘your way’ is to sacrifice yourself. And isn't the ‘future you want’ a world that no longer needs a sacrificed you to control it? Lei Ting? But you are so powerful—what exactly are you still worried about? You should tell me the answer to that question. We can share the pressure and the cost together!”
“...”
‘We... together.’
Such familiar words.
Lei Ting was slightly stunned. He opened his mouth but didn't know what he wanted to say. He always seemed to be like this in front of this person... Why?
He didn't know.
—Well, since he didn't know, and it wasn't an urgent problem that needed immediate clarification, he wouldn't think about it.
Lei Ting turned his face away and stood up.
“You stay right here!” a roar of anger sounded behind him. The mature, handsome man finally couldn't hold back anymore. He slammed the table and stood up, sharp, golden-tinged stardust exploding from his body as he grabbed for Lei Ting’s arm!
When they had first met earlier, he had already figured out the proper way to apply force and the leverage points for that bracer shell. As long as he could catch it, he would definitely be able to hook his fingers into it like iron nails!
To this, Lei Ting sighed.
Even though there was no emotion in his heart—neither positive nor negative—he still sighed.
A sigh that wasn't quite so ‘simulated.’
Because at this moment, a scene that did not exist ‘this time’ flashed through his mind.
—[Before the massive rebel fleet, Evenheiler flew back to join his comrades, while a young Lei Ting roared as he charged through the smoke and toxic mist, reaching out to grab that retreating back.]—
I’ve really said too much this time, he thought.
His experience from the ‘last time’ told him that dialogue between warriors shouldn't involve too much entanglement of love and hate. Hanging by a thread on the edge of a blade painted with the blood of ideals and beliefs was their way of whispering sweet nothings.
It was also the best gift in their relationship of mutual attraction, respect, entrustment, and competitive rivalry.
But this time... he seemingly hadn't ‘respected’ the other’s personal rights. Neither his physical freedom nor his choice between life and death.
...It didn't matter. This was the best choice.
Lei Ting pulled his hand back. Like the Evenheiler in those dreamlike visions of ‘past’ and ‘future,’ he easily evaded the force coming from behind.
He dissipated into nothingness, leaving only a patch of golden light in his place. Evenheiler stumbled through it, feeling only a lingering warmth upon his body.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 不动 | Immovable | Lei Ting's domain name. |
| 猎图 | Lietu / Chart Hunter | Name of an Aberrant; literally "Hunt Map/Chart." |
| 生命之绿 | Green of Life | A powerful healing/restorative entity or force. |
| 警钟 | Alarm Bell | A specific entity or system linked to Princess Heather. |
| 解限体 | Unbound Body | A theoretical perfect state of power/evolution; "Limit-Breaker." |
| 堕变 | Degeneration | A term for the transformation/fall into an Aberrant state. |
| 变迁 | Change / Transition | A stage of evolution. |
| 升变 | Transmutation / Promotion | A stage of evolution, likely referring to the chess term "promotion." |
| 记录者 | The Recorder | A powerful entity or title. |
| 凝望者 | The Gazer | A powerful entity or title. |
