Space warped violently, cracks spreading out from the center of the warping. At first it looked like a spider web, but it swiftly shrank down to something more akin to an unnaturally wide grin. It erupted into a bright and dazzling display of multicolored lights, dyeing the darkness of space for a brief instant before it vanished. Left behind in the wake of the warped space was the 23rd Division belonging to Eagle Corps of the Heaven-Covering Army.
If you looked at the entire army that the Existential Lord brought along to invade this Sphere of Existence, then the 23rd Division would be ranked just about the middle. Nothing too spectacular, nothing too embarrassing. But still, they were included in the invasion force that the Existential Lord Tian Shen had formed to bring this Sphere of Existence under his control, so even a group considered not too spectacular was still a dreadful force that could bring some of the unclaimed minor universes to heel. Division Commander Wei Juan Xin knew this, but her eyebrows were still scrunched up as she surveyed her surroundings.
“…Lok Kong, this does not look like the correct destination. Report.”
Pale blue pupils surveyed the planet a bit away from them, her eyes narrowing slightly to take in the sight. According to her briefing, they should be launching an attack on Greater Eaveswood, a planet housing the one closest in line to taking over the Eastbound Minor Universe. But that planet was supposed to be covered by a gargantuan jungle. This planet, while having some forests and the like, was mostly cities and civilizations. Thus… It was evidently the wrong place. But why? And where?
“Scans indicate that something interfered with our spatial array, forcibly twisting us away from our original path. The flow of space around us determines that we have arrived in the Rahu Minor Universe, and the location ahead of us should be Grey-Heart Planet, capital of the Sebettu.”
Lok Kong, the Division’s navigator reported the situation after checking his equipment, surveying the space around them and comparing it to the reports they had gotten from their allies. They had prepared for this war for many years already so there were very few universes in this Sphere that they didn’t have at least a good grasp on. If you wanted to win a war, information like this was the most basic of steps.
“…Damn.”
And because they had this information, that short little curse was all she could utter for a moment. Her hand rose to her face, a few drops of sweat having already appeared on her forehead. She wiped the drops away by sweeping her hand through her short and curly brown hair, slicking it all back before she addressed her men.
“Right then. Due to the unforeseen circumstances of our spatial array being interfered with, I’m afraid the lot of us have found ourselves in the middle of Azatoth’s territory. Most likely, he has already been notified about our trespassing, few can enter his territory without him knowing. I pray to be wrong about this, but I believe luck has left us in that regard.”
Azatoth, The Nine Star Demon God. He had risen to power after the Second Sphere War so it was inevitable that they would have less information on him than they did the three rulers who fought in the second war. But the information they had was plenty horrifying, what with the sea of demonic beasts that had eradicated their men. To enter his territory like this only meant one thing.
“Soldiers, it would appear that we are all going to have to lay down our avatars here today. For some of you, this will be your first death. It will be beyond painful, but consider it a good experience to have for the future. Depending on how long this war goes on, you are likely to be called back to service, likely even with your real bodies.”
There was no use in sugarcoating it or giving them false hopes. They entered the territory of a demon, so they would all die here. Luckily, they had only come here using the avatars that the Existential Lord had made for them so it wouldn’t be a true death. But it was still a waste of an entire Division, so they would likely get called back to war before long. Many of their companions would likely lay down their lives for good in this war. But until then…
“Well, we might as well make ourselves useful if we’re already doomed to die. Prepare the Core-Breaker, we’ll do what damage we can before we get taken out.”
Wei Xin’s Division sprang into action on her orders, one part preparing their own weapons while the other prepared the siege weapon of the division. Core-Breaker, it was a weapon that was designed to do just that, break the core of a planet. It would break into the core of the planet and wipe it out, the remaining energy mixing with what was left of the core to burst out in a violent eruption that tore the planet apart.
It had been designed by Tian Shen specifically for this war, he declared it to be one of their secret trump cards that would permanently lower the power held by Azatoth and the others. How it achieved that by destroying a planet, Wei Xin had no idea. But she didn’t need to know how it worked. She was a soldier, and she had received an order. All she had to do was accomplish that order.
Her division quickly got the weapon set up, the planet in the distance being graciously quiet. From the looks of it, they had luckily arrived somewhere outside the senses of whoever was on the planet, affording them these precious few minutes to set up their weapon. And once it was all set up, there was only one order she could give.
“Fire, and then prepare to descend if anyone escapes in time.”
The Core-Breaker, a ten-meter tall cube composed of smaller cubes, whirred to life once the order was given and the power supplied. Each cube lit up with a dull light, gathering into a single glaring grey light that shot forward as a beam as wide as a grown-man’s arm. There was no warping or twisting in the space around the beam, no deafening sound or crackling of energy. It flew forward in an eerie silence, the world around it simply fading away in response to its power. It would pierce into the world ahead of it, and the planet would break along with those residing on it.
“Hm?”
But then something Wei Xin had not expected occurred, the beam bent. It curved away from its straight line, its target seemingly changing from the planet and instead to the largest building she could see on the planet. If it followed along with its current path, it would graze the planet rather than cut into the core, leaving them with only one option.
“It seems we are left with no choice, as one would expect from our luck. Descend, For the sake of our Lord.”
———————————————————
The room that the Ren couple brought them to was just about as large as Liang Chen had expected from what was likely the palace of the Sebettu. The room alone was larger than many of the buildings he had seen in his life, filled with monuments, a throne far too large for a human to sit on, a small glade of trees surrounding a lake. Comparing the rest of the room to the table and chairs that they sat on only made the furniture look laughable, there were synthetic clouds above them that were larger.
The table and chairs looked a bit out of place with the rest of the room, placed close to the glade, so it was probably something they had brought over intentionally. When everything else was this big and they were seemingly ‘pressed together’ at a table like this, people would inevitably feel somewhat closer to those sharing the room with them.
“…So that’s how you got acquainted with Shuya.”
Liang Chen and his family, as well as the Ren family were seated around the table, chatting. Well, Yan Ling and Yumao stood for most of the chatter on Liang Chen’s side. The Ren couple weren’t pushing Liang Chen to talk, allowing Yan Ling to take the lead so that Liang Chen could organically join in without feeling pressured, it was their way of being considerate to him.
As for what the conversation had been so far… Well Liang Chen would be hard-pressed to call it anything but idle chatter. How Yan Ling first met Ren Shuya, how they ended up getting along, how Liang Chen and Yan Ling met, how they ended up together, where they picked up Yumao, where they picked up Lan Yun, where they picked up Ao Fentian, where they picked up Liang Sheng Lian. It was idle chatter that never delved too deeply, drawing a thin line between the two families.
Of course, Yan Ling danced around that line as she pleased, hopping and skipping over it in a heartbeat when it came to some of her stories. It was a stark contrast to how Liang Chen and Xiao Ping had just been in their duel. But neither of the two estranged siblings protested to the light-hearted moment. Xiao Ping was content because their parents were happy, and Liang Chen was content because Yan Ling was clearly having a good time chatting with them.
He could… Understand why Yan Ling acted the way she did when it came to his biological parents. Her mother had betrayed the family early on, resulting in the death of her younger twin siblings, saddling her adopted older brother with immense guilt, and permanently wounding her father’s heart. Her father then died when the people of the Sealing God Empyrean attacked their planet. Her older brother was still alive, but the rest of her family had passed long before her. She… Needed a family. She needed parents, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
Thus, even if Liang Chen was not willing to accept these people as his parents, he could not betray the people who raised him and gave their lives for him, he was still willing to engage them like this for the sake of Yan Ling. And it was… Comforting, to simply idle the time away with chatter like this. Yan Ling spoke as she pleased, but whenever the Ren couple spoke with him they made sure to respect his bottom line, speaking to him as friends rather than parents. It was… Pleasant, in a way.
“Right!? And then you should have seen the way Little Freak tried to get my attention! I’ve never seen someone who att…”
Yan Ling kept on chattering excitedly. But at some point, her voice started to fade away slightly to Liang Chen. He felt something, a soft pulse from within. He was resonating with something, a powerful source closely attuned to one of his laws. It was calling to him, or perhaps it was better to say that he was calling to something. And then Xiao Ping reacted.
“It’s an attack!”
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Her hands slammed down on the table, the thick marble disintegrating under her palms. In less than a second, lines that glowed with a sea blue light stretched across her body. The same lines appeared on the floor and walls of the room they were in, and probably throughout the rest of the palace as well. Judging by the thick surge of Qi that welled up from beneath the palace, pouring into Xiao Ping through the lines that connected her with the land, it was probably some defensive array etched into the planet. She was the future empress of the Sebettu, the one they wanted to keep alive the most, so it only made sense that she would be the one connected to the array. She could draw its power as she pleased, and it would keep her safe if something unforeseen happened.
Her connection with the array, which likely covered the entire planet, was probably also what allowed her to sense the threat before anyone else. And as the first one to sense the threat, she was the first one to act, a quick hop bringing her away from the table and in front of the others. No, to be more specific, she was in front of Liang Chen.
Shortly after she sprung into action, the threat became apparent to the rest. Or perhaps it was just Liang Chen who saw it. A dull grey line that pierced through the palace walls and headed straight for them, straight for him. The line was a jumbled mess of laws and elements, a complex puzzle that couldn’t be neutralized with just one or two different laws. But there, beneath that jumbled mess, serving as the core that kept it all together, Liang Chen felt that resonating pulse.
There was oblivion in that line, a small piece of the Void that resonated with him. That’s why the attack flew straight towards him rather than into the planet. It was a small piece of the greater whole, it just wanted to return to him now that it sensed him. But well, even if that piece of Void wanted to return to him, the violent laws around it would shred him if they got to him so he wasn’t keen on accepting it.
Nor did he have to, because between him and that line was Xiao Ping, her form shrouded by Qi so dense it had become mist.
“Not in my home!”
Her voice was barely more than a gravely roar, her body probably wasn’t actually capable of bearing the full might of the planet’s defensive array, especially not when she took it into herself like this. Accompanying her roar was an attack that Liang Chen had seen before.
The world around them creaked as a black hole appeared above Xiao Ping, a bright orange center adorning it, spinning without a sound. Well, rather than saying that it did so without a sound was a bit wrong, it swallowed all sound. With the support of the array, the attack was many magnitudes greater than it had been when she launched it against Liang Chen, its pull so great that even the approaching line was somewhat diverted towards it. And then they collided.
It felt like half an eternity, but the truth was that it all happened in such a short instant that even Liang Chen was barely left with the time to barely react. Had it not been for the array supporting Xiao Ping then Liang Chen would have been the first to notice the attack, and by then it would be too late to do anything about it.
The black hole and the line erupted with violent energy as they collided, the palace around them crumbling practically instantly from the shockwaves. The city around them was laid bare, a large hole present in the buildings between them and the source of the attack. Luckily, the line was so fiercely condensed that there was little more damage to the buildings other than that hole. Of course, if anyone had been near the line when it passed by… Well their end would at least have been a fast one.
Even with the black hole blocking it, the line kept trying to push forward, kept trying to reach Liang Chen. Xiao Ping, being the one currently blocking it, was the one who knew its power best. She… was struggling. It hurt to admit, but she knew that she could not fully block it. In half a second or so at best, it would pierce through even the black hole she conjured using the full power of the planet’s defensive array. This was not an attack she could truly block. So what could she do?
Well, she could detonate it.
She had the law of destruction, it was in her nature to destroy things. The ‘balance’ between the laws in this attack? If she applied enough force, even if she couldn’t neutralize it, she could destabilize the balance enough to where the entire line would erupt.
But the city was all around them, so where was she to put all this energy? Forward? It would tear through the city. Down? it would tear through the planet. Backwards? It would tear through her family and then the city. Upward was an idea, but she could not guarantee that it would just fly into the air harmlessly, it was far more likely to spread out after a few moments, raining down on the city.
There was not a single direction she could send the attack in where it wouldn’t ravage something she held dear.
Thus, the choice was clear. She was the future empress of the Sebettu, the one who would help them return to their former glory. All she did, she did for her home.
“Get back!”
She collapsed the black hole on the grey line with another guttural growl, blood filling her throat as the wild surge of Qi was tearing through her body. She didn’t have the peace of mind to do any accurate targeting so she just had to do it roughly, assaulting the various laws in the attack with the remnants of her black hole. It didn’t take long before she felt it, the rampant surge of energy as the incoming attack scattered.
Breaking it apart was the ‘easy’ part, containing it was much harder.
Luckily, she did not have to face the attack entirely alone. The race she was trying so hard to save, they too were on her side thanks to the years of effort they had put into the planet’s defensive array.
She dredged up every last piece of power from the array, veins rupturing as the sea-blue lines etched themselves deeper and deeper into her skin and flesh. The remnants of the black hole that had detonated the line grew larger and larger, forming miniature black holes that pushed at the rampant energy. Using her control over them, she pushed the black holes closer to each other, her nails flying off and the skin on her hands getting shorn away as stray strands of the slowly compressing energy blew past her.
The rampant energy was trapped between the black holes, their every exit blocked by either a black hole or Xiao Ping’s own body. Naturally, even with the defensive array supporting her, Xiao Ping’s body was a lot less durable than the black holes so it was inevitable that chunks of flesh would get torn away by the rampaging energy. But she persisted, for a moments hesitation here would lead to untold damage to the Sebettu.
As it stood, she still lacked a bit of power to properly contain the rampaging energy. But she still had one last card to play, one last little boost. The defensive array that supported her, the years of hard work that her people put into building it, she sacrificed some of it. She broke it away from the rest of the array, converting it into raw energy that she molded with her hands, now practically only bones left.
And then she clapped those hands, a clacking sound breaking through the rampaging energy. The black holes that pushed at the violent energy collided with each other, trapping the remains of the attack between them as they merged back into a single black hole. The energy was swirling in the midst of that black hole, so Xiao Ping collapsed that black hole again, hoping to forever bury the remaining energy within that event horizon.
But it wasn’t enough.
Xiao Ping had used up several tens of thousands of years of energy that had been stored in the planet’s defensive array, even sacrificing a part of it, amplified it with her Fourth Step, and sacrificed a good chunk of her own body. But it wasn’t enough. Out from the scattering remains of her collapsed black hole, she could feel the violent energy seep back out. It was a lot weaker than before, but if left unchecked like this then it would blow a massive hole into her city. The number of people that would die in the blast was something she didn’t even want to count.
And then she saw a line draw itself through the air.
The line split apart, tore a gash in reality itself. And beyond that gash, she saw it. Pale white earth, grey grass, black worms that wriggled across the land, light brown trees adorned with bright reed leaves, a small running stream. And beyond that oasis, bone-like white sand that stretched as far as the eye could see, porous black mountains and a colorless sky. Beyond the line, a land off nothing stretched out into infinity.
The energy that seeped out from the remains of her black hole fell into the gash, which snapped shut like a jaw behind it. As quickly as it had appeared, it had disappeared, leaving behind nothing but silence. Were it not for Xiao Ping’s ruined body and the destroyed palace, one might accidentally think that it had all been nothing but a dream.
But as Xiao Ping had come to know, most dreams were really nothing more than nightmares in disguise. And there, in the distance, she saw the continuation of this dream.
A horde of people swarming onto the planet, at least a couple of thousand. All clad in similar armor, all wielding similar weapons. Clearly an organized group that had gathered together to attack the planet.
“H… Haah… They really do still view us highly.”
She felt like cursing, but rasping out those words was all she could manage. Within that horde of people, she could detect at least 8 Sovereign Gods.
She herself, when in top form, could take on some weaker Sovereign Gods. Her parents and elder brother Shuya were Sovereign Gods, and they had one reclusive elder that was still a Sovereign God, leaving them with only half what their opponents had. Even if she were in top form it would be a battle she couldn’t confidently say they could win, their best choice would be to run away. But if they did that here, then what would happen to their people?
“Liang Chen. This is Sebettu business, so take your people and leave.”
The words dripped out from between her lips alongside several helpings of blood, her eyes practically entirely red from burst blood-vessels as she looked at Liang Chen. He had made his stance clear on his relationship with the Sebettu, he wanted nothing to do with them. She too had made it abundantly clear that she did not think that the Sebettu needed him. Thus, this was a matter that had nothing to do with him, he was only an unlucky bystander.
“That attack was coming for me.”
Liang Chen gave a rather dismissive answer, studying the people in the distance, who were quickly approaching the planet. The core of that attack had resonated with him, that was why it had come straight for him. If Xiao Ping had let it be, then it would likely have tried to run Liang Chen through and then continued on unabated until it met a force great enough to rupture it.
“I challenged you to a duel… But the Sebettu will not allow an official guest to perish while they are here.”
Xiao Ping spat out an excuse, or perhaps it wasn’t and those were truly her thoughts. She dreamed of the glory days of the Sebettu, the pride and honor they had back then. They would never had let someone harm a hair on the head of their guests. Of course, there was another reason that she acted, one far more simple. For a brief moment, her gaze landed on her parents, who were already frantically handing out orders to the the elders of their race.
“Mother and father would be sad if you were to perish.”
Yes. Liang Chen may not have accepted them as his parents, but they still considered him their son. Xiao Ping could see how happy her parents were when they were chatting with Liang Chen and Yan Ling, they had finally reclaimed that piece of themselves that they had given up all those long years ago, their oldest regret. If he were to die… They would cry. She did not want them to cry. That was her filial piety as their daughter. And as the future empress of the Sebettu…
“These are our enemies, not yours, so leave. But if you can, I’d implore you to bring along as many people as you can. You may have no interest in us, but surely you’d at least offer that level of aid to the innocent, right?”
Xiao Ping’s hands were nothing more than bone at this point, but she still clenched her fists, controlling the individual joints with Qi while she waited for her innate regeneration to slowly kick in. Her halberd appeared in her grasp, the tip resting against the floor as she seemed slightly too weak to lift it properly. She was wounded beyond measure, drained of every last drop she had to give. But she could not stop, she could not rest. She had to keep moving forward, even when there was nothing left of her.
It was just as she and Liang Chen had said earlier.
It doesn’t matter if she gets tired, she will keep moving forward. That is what it means to make a choice. She had made her choice for the Sebettu, so she would move forward without end.
And Liang Chen? What about him?
“You’re right about that at least, these aren’t my enemies.”
His voice was calm, a bit low, his gaze still on the horde of soldiers in the distance. There was a slight smile on Yan Ling’s face when she heard Liang Chen speak, Ao Fentian and Lan Yun already tucked away to safety. She knew him best out of everyone here, she knew his choice better than anyone here. In a moment like this, there was only one thing he would do. Thus, naturally, there was only one thing she would do, following his steps as he moved forward.
“They’re just more sinners.”