Was the victory decided at this moment?
No, certainly not.
For a brief interval, the 'Commander' had indeed failed to mount an effective resistance, but Evenheiler did not lower his guard. Prematurely popping the champagne was not something one should do unless they were a 'Child of Destiny.' Evenheiler considered himself far from that title; in fact, he ranked among the unluckiest of the Human Union’s high-level espers.
Even the sole stroke of luck and the greatest misfortune of his life had occurred within the same event.
Thus, when a microscopic ripple was born in the darkness, Evenheiler’s nerves instantly pulled taut. In a flash, he retreated thousands of miles, leaving behind a trail of intermittent light in the void.
Sure enough, in the next instant, the massive black hole being incinerated by 'Firewine' shuddered. The space where Evenheiler had just been standing collapsed into an even deeper abyss of darkness.
The Commander’s silhouette stepped out from it, casting a distant glance at him, appearing somewhat regretful.
Had Evenheiler been even slightly less certain of his own perceptions—had he left even half a second later—his current energy-based form would have fallen into the snare. Within half an hour at most, he would have dissipated as his energy ran dry.
That duration would have been more than enough for the Commander to achieve his secondary objective.
Nothing good in this world came without a price. No matter how absurdly powerful the effect of 'Immobility' was, it was useless if the energy supply couldn't keep up. The nature of the ability itself dictated a continuous and massive consumption of energy.
The same ability in the hands of 'Solaris,' who possessed nearly infinite energy, was an entirely different matter than when held by 'Starstream,' who had limited energy and was merely running a simulation.
Unfortunately, this 'Starstream' fellow possessed a level of vigilance and maneuverability that was beyond the norm. The Commander even began to wonder if this man had once been stalked without realizing it and paid a devastating price for it...
But it didn't matter.
Whether they could escape this place was not something 'Firewine' or 'Starstream' could control!
The Commander calmly leaned into the darkness, vanishing to avoid a burst of exploding flame.
During this appearance, 'Starstream’s' energy levels seemed to have improved significantly, allowing him to maintain the high-risk state of simulated 'Immobility' until now. The Commander knew exactly how dire this man’s condition had once been, for he was the one who had caused it.
Now, a suspicion rose in his mind.
Shattered spirit-thought, loss of emotional control, extreme susceptibility to external influence... these were all preparations he had made to forge a powerful new 'compatriot' out of 'Starstream.'
Yet now, 'Starstream’s' spirit-thought, which should have been broken, was whole and flawless. His state, which should have been chaotic, had returned to normal. This was certainly not something achievable through conventional means.
There was only one way in this world to restore a spirit-thought shattered by pollution.
That was to use a spirit-thought so unimaginably powerful that it could shoulder the burden and complete the missing pieces!
"Interesting... he truly does love you," the Commander sneered, as if he finally understood everything. "I have never seen a 'Limit-breaker' willing to crush themselves to help another."
*He’s not just willing to help me like that; he can crush himself on an entirely different level to help even more people,* Evenheiler thought. But words were useless now, so he remained expressionless and silent. Bathed in the faint golden star-mist surrounding him, he bore a striking resemblance to Lei Ting’s state from a few years ago.
In the distance, 'Firewine' struggled to escape the gravitational pull of a newborn black hole, retreating to a relatively safe distance to catch its breath.
Aside from the clashing energy aftershocks still occurring at the edge of the battlefield, the scene momentarily fell silent. However, instead of relaxing, Evenheiler heightened his vigilance further.
He flew through belts of ejected matter, constantly observing his surroundings, ready to seize any opening the enemy might leave. His silhouette was black inlaid with gold, his energy pure white tinged with gold—he looked as vigorous as he had forty years ago, yet it felt as though everything had changed.
"Do you know, 'Starstream'?" The Commander’s message broadcasted through the interstellar space. "Do you know what your greatest mistake is?"
"..." Evenheiler still gave no reaction.
Until he realized that his moving form was suddenly locked in place by a force, rendering him unable to move!
Evenheiler’s brow furrowed. He instinctively prepared himself to die at that very moment. But he did not meet a storm of attacks; instead, he felt his energy weaken with eerie speed. A familiar, fracturing pain split deep within his spirit-thought, causing a brief stagnation in his mind.
But as his thoughts resumed, he quickly realized: it wasn't he himself who was locked.
The blonde man gripped the light-blade in his hand and swung it back, slashing across his own chest where the phantom of the black-gold armor floated!
*Clang!*
A hard shockwave of shattered remnants erupted from his chest, echoing across the star sector.
A mass of black matter that had somehow attached itself to 'XIV001' was blown to bits. Evenheiler could feel the gravitational pull they emitted, prompting him to vanish once more in caution.
"It’s useless, 'Starstream'..." the Commander whispered with a light laugh, as if he hadn't just taken a full-power strike from a superpowered entity head-on. "You can no longer leave. You must die here. Why continue to resist? Give up..."
His voice gradually shifted, becoming as soft as a lover’s murmur. In everyone’s ears, it became the voice they most desired to hear: "Give up. Stop..."
One had to admit, setting aside the mental suggestion within, the tone was quite charming, Evenheiler thought. If only it hadn't been simulated as Lei Ting’s voice.
Just thinking about Lei Ting speaking to him in such a tone made Evenheiler’s skin crawl.
He suddenly accelerated, attempting to fly out of the center of the star sector. Starlight scattered behind him, each spark an energy bomb capable of leveling half a city district.
Explosions chased him relentlessly as that power closed in. There was even energy of the same nature ahead of him. It was a game of cat and mouse; Evenheiler knew what the opponent wanted—nothing more than to use him as a hostage to force Lei Ting, who was at the Galactic Core, to abandon that battlefield and rush here.
But...
Evenheiler let out a cold sneer.
The opponent clearly didn't realize that whether it was him or Lei Ting facing such a choice, neither would ever choose to abandon an undecided grand strategy to come to a new battlefield.
That battle was of such monumental importance that neither could leave in peace until their task was done!
And he would never allow anyone to use him as leverage to threaten anyone else!
*A 'hostage'?*
*Who the hell are you insulting?!*
In the darkness, Evenheiler suddenly banked at a sharp angle, raising his blade to meet the pursuing energy head-on.
The light in his eyes beneath the armor exploded with brilliance. He twirled the light-blade in his hand with an elegant, lithe flourish—
*Schwing—*
Through a gap in the net-like blockade, a streak of flowing light passed through a fleeting loophole.
The starlight blade sliced through the spatial barrier. A slender spatial rift emerged from the darkness, like a pocket being pulled open at the corner. Stars from an unidentifiable astronomical position flashed on the other side!
In the mental link with 'Firewine,' Evenheiler’s command was even more jarring than the other’s previous outbursts: "BLOW IT UP!!!!!"
'Firewine' didn't instinctively obey—this mass of slime had no instinct for obedience.
But in less than a millisecond, it made the appropriate response: Blow it up!
Starlight flared; celestial fire ignited. The spatial rift was instantly blown to pieces. A region of space-time chaos, larger than a conventional star-gate, spread out of control, swallowing the massive black hole in an instant and intensifying because of it!
Layers of chaotic, disordered light erupted. Before the Commander could even let out a roar of fury, he was plunged into that terrifying, destructive light along with 'Firewine,' who had intentionally collided with him. Evenheiler failed to escape as well, nor could he have—perhaps someone in this world could be faster than light, but no one could escape the collapse of 'space' itself.
Previously, merely navigating through chaotic energy streams that lacked the concept of 'space' had nearly overloaded Evenheiler’s mind to the point where he didn't realize he might lose his way. Now that the spatial barrier was being violently destroyed on a massive scale, how could he possibly react?
*BOOM—!!!!!*
Reality disintegrated before his eyes.
The chaotic spatial fissures tore everything apart, just as they had years ago when he intentionally destroyed the spatial tunnel he had cut, preventing the young Lei Ting from tracking him.
...Tch.
In the final moment before his consciousness began to fade, Evenheiler felt a sincere pang of apology toward the Lei Ting of those years.
This feeling of a spatial barrier shattering right in one's face was practically a horror story...
Within the chaotic storm, the entire star sector began to collapse inward. Matter was annihilated, energy dissipated. Every second, a terrifying amount of energy supporting 'Immobility' was stripped away.
Destruction had arrived.
The blonde man gave a bitter smile. In an instant, countless images from his life flashed through his mind. Finally, the montage froze on a pair of eyes like golden suns.
Those eyes belonged to a young man. A handsome young man...
Though thinking about handsomeness at a time like this seemed a bit frivolous.
But truthfully, there had never been a moment where Evenheiler Kang wanted to see someone so badly.
Perhaps in the eyes of others, that fellow was a piece of copper, a hunk of gold, a block of steel, a mass of burning flame, or even a mountain of meteorites falling from the sky... but to him, he was just a wonderful, rotten bastard.
...But he wanted to see him.
Very much.
In the distant direction of the Human Union, 'The Gazer' sighed.
He cast one last lingering look at the darkness he and 'The Recorder' had once protected, and at that field of wheat.
In the next moment, his form shattered.
Countless phantoms, countless 'eyes'—the 'God' composed of those who had once gazed into the future—disintegrated along with the statue in the New Solar System of the material world.
Like the death of 'The Recorder' before, but far more dangerous and forceful—a shockwave occurring across the mental plane of all humanity appeared once more. Countless humans lost consciousness in that instant, falling straight to the ground.
Yet that terrible pain caused Evenheiler to snap his eyes open. His previously dissipating spirit rapidly coalesced. He gritted his teeth as if he were a living being about to let out a muffled groan.
But in the next heartbeat, he was stunned by the scene before him.
—It was a starship.
A starship with a battered hull, so ancient it belonged in a recycling system.
On the side of its hull was a painted designation, so mottled it was almost unrecognizable: 'Crater 900.'
Then, an even stronger torrent of space-time turbulence swept over him, causing the briefly revealed image to waver and vanish.
He drifted with the tide, falling into the heart of that storm—
—A ripple, hidden beneath all the chaos and fury, briefly appeared.
Evenheiler lost consciousness. He did not know that a pair of hands radiating golden light reached out from the darkness, catching him firmly and pulling him back, locking him tightly into a solid embrace as abundant with energy as the sun.
