Morgiana was angry.

This whole situation was a ginormous pain in the ass for her. This entire mission was a fiasco as it ended in a complete net loss. Actually, there was no noticeable profit from the endeavor anyway, so the word net didn’t need to be mentioned at all. It was just a loss through and through. After this farce was over, their credibility would definitely fall to the ground, burrow holes, and reach hell.

I guess I can worry about this after I survive.

Those thoughts whirred in her brain as the intricate red lines on her body vibrated to life, shining like a river of molten lava— bright and infinitely radiant. The stampede of veritable monsters rushing toward them was clearly induced by fear and a last-ditch effort at survival, only the thoughts of escape were coursing through their brain.

A red flame she may be but she definitely was not some helpless lady. Armor covered her body and her trusty helmet fell perfectly over her face, completely changing the world she had been observing till now.

I am full of energy now! Combat Mode!

[Understood]

The makeup of her armor completely changed from the ground up, going from a sleek casual design to an extremely bulky and full-plated behemoth that was clearly geared towards the term absolute defense. Furthermore, two miniature cannons appeared on the handles of her arms, complementing the design of the armor that made her a walking miniature fortress.

“Morgiana, you are covering the back. I am counting on you in case I miss anything.”

Morgiana nodded wordlessly at Dorothy's order, walking some distance as the Witch of Stars adjusted herself for attacking the hordes.

“Sir Noah. I would like to ask you to stay perfectly still. We will take care of everything.” Dorothy gave a smile filled with confidence as she strode forward causing Noah’s childish face to contort into a cute frown. Nobody was going to take him seriously with this appearance of his.

“Hey…”

“Let her do as she wishes.” Morgiana intoned, “You clearly seem weakened due to… whatever happened inside that ominous gate, and honestly, she doesn’t even need our help.”

“What do you mean… Oh…”

Noah closed his mouth when he suddenly felt a huge pressure emanating near him. One so gigantic that even the power Omid had shown to him previously seemed to be nothing more than that of a paltry firefly in front of a radiant sun.

STOP!

All she did was take one step, a single step forward, and utter one word… that was all it took for the whole world to be enveloped in utter silence in front of her pure majesty, obeying her iron-clad command.

Everything froze in a two-hundred-meter radius, causing even the make up of the light enveloping them to change as a monochrome black-and-white haze covered their beings.

“Morgiana.”

“Understood.”

Thrusters appeared on the back of her armor, propelling her into the air. It was only a small jump, all things considered, but she was still able to reach an impressive five meter height with the skillful maneuvering of the thrusters. The height was more than enough to enable her, letting her take the most optimal action in this situation.

As a member of the Red Flame Qabila, Morgiana never had overwhelming firepower, t least not compared to the others of her race. Something on the level of Omid was pure fantasy for her. Her flames severely limited the destruction and power output she could bring forth. And the heat of her flames could not even be comparable to the other Qabilas.

But that only applied to her when she was on her own.

Targets after targets were marked by the AI of her armor, reaching more than a few hundred. Fighting them in normal times would have been hard but now, they were nothing more than sitting ducks.

Pushing her hands forward, Morgiana focused all of her energy and heat inside the enlarged canons.

[Boost X5]

The air distorted for a short second and two beams of pure light and flame flew at incredible speed toward her targets. This was followed by a powerful explosion that completely engulfed all the monsters that were running toward them, currently frozen in time by Dorothy.

[Calculating result: All targets dead. Perfect sweep.]

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Morgiana chuckled as she landed gracefully. Inwardly, she was sweating quite a bit within the armor. The attack she had just delivered to annihilate the beasts was extremely taxing on her body. A one-time skill of sorts. But still, it had been some time since she could properly release some steam and after this whole scam of a fiasco, killing monsters like this was definitely therapeutic.

“This should have done the job.”

“Well done.”

Dorothy’s voice was terse and slightly cold even as she praised Morgiana but she did not mind. She knew Dorothy enough and understood very well that using her powers on such a grand scale definitely affected her psyche more than she would be willing to admit. Stopping time, even in a very small zone, was definitely no small feat even for someone as powerful as Dorothy.

Is it my imagination or… is she trying to impress someone?

Obviously, she was not the target… and that only left a single person.

Noah…

Uh… I didn’t think she had such weird taste in men.

There was no other way to explain why Dorothy would strain herself like this when she didn’t need to. She certainly had other skills in her arsenal that could have done the trick in a more efficient way while taxing her a lot less.

Thinking about this, Morgiana's gaze moved toward Noah and she couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. Noah’s expression was cold and scrutinizing. This was definitely not the appearance and expression a small child should have.

Even so, the shock swimming in his eyes was impossible to miss. Morgiana was extremely delighted to see him in such a state. This should take him down a peg.

“What do we do now?” Morgiana asked in a subdued tone. Having fun was great and all but she did not forget the perilous situation that they currently found themselves in. This planet also had the Abyss Beasts on it and those were generally more resistant to Dark Matter related skills.

It would have been one thing if Dorothy had her Frame with her, but as she was now… things could get quite a bit problematic if a horde of Abyss Beasts were to come after them.

“Now we wait. I can maintain this zone for a short time. But after this display, the beasts should understand that rushing toward us is not really the best approach they can take.”

And just like that… an unexpectedly dangerous situation was changed in nothing more than a small cruise.

The quaking and rumbling slowly grew fiercer, more and more cracks appearing all around them. Meanwhile, the beasts were running for their lives in practically all directions, anything to survive this situation. But the charred remains and the gigantic and powerful presence was enough for them to ignore their little group.

One minute went by in perfect peace and no unexpected situation arose.

[The beam is ready.]

“Gather up.”

No sooner was the warning given that one gigantic beam pierced the clouds from high above and reached down, flooding them with a continuous barrage of multicolored lights.

Noah, who had stayed silent all this while even after witnessing something as nonsensical as time being stopped, gave one last look at the surroundings.

This was a place he had lived in for so long that he didn’t even understand the breadth of time anymore. Those years were full of suffering but they were also simpler times.

Now though… It was time to leave this place and head toward the greater cosmos— the Sea of Stars was awaiting his arrival. He did not know what awaited him and what kind of people he would meet though. The most likely case was even more monsters that would be capable of doing illogical things on the same breadth as stopping time.

But it was alright. His fight with Omid had already made him understand that he was the strongest no more.

He simply needed to climb back to the top once again.

Goodbye Venus. If the true you is still alive somewhere— I will make sure to find you.

Those were his last thoughts as they were finally teleported and nearly instantly appeared in Dorothy’s primary spaceship.

“My Queen, what do we do?”

With Outsiders present, the Prideful Lion did not address Dorothy as he usually would. It was important to keep decorum after all.

“We need to leave, get as much distance as possible.”

***

Meanwhile, in the virtual world, Venus gave a bloody smile even though half of her body had already been destroyed.

She did not know who bothered to program blood in such a place as it was completely unnecessary but it was what it was.

“Heheh. This was quite fun…”

Her opponent was as wounded as she was. But she knew that if this fight continued, she would be the one to lose. War of attrition was not her strong suit.

[Priority Target — Code Name: Noah, has left the planet.]

“I guess my job is finally done.”

As if realizing that something was amiss, the being she was fighting started roaring a malefic scream, clearly intent on destroying her and escaping from its restraint.

Sadly for it though—

“Initiate Protocol Apocalypse.”

[Confirmed.]

A white light started bathing the world and as Venus’s body broke down, a radiant smile stayed on her face.

Was she Venus or nothing but a digital copy used as a sacrificial pawn? Such things did not matter in her opinion.

Noah would always be Noah and she… would always be Venus. The most beautiful being out of all the thirteen constellations.

***

From the perspective of the outside world, those who were sitting in the spaceship witnessed a sight they would most likely never forget.

The destruction of a planet was something all too common in space. Such things would never surprise them. What happened here though was anything but common.

The planet did not explode. The planet was not destroyed.

One moment they were looking at an entire planet bathed in a white soothing light and the next moment, the planet was entirely erased from existence as if it had never even been there in the first place.

It just— ceased to exist.