A flaming serpent danced!
A crimson brilliance left a mesmerizing afterimage, and bursting sparks were as brilliant as fireworks. In the wake of the flashing streak of light was a sharp blade, slashing straight down at Mammon!
CLANG!!
A blinding flash erupted!
The vast command center was instantly illuminated.
Inside the space, where only the stubborn warning lights remained, it was as if a "Little Boy" had risen in the midnight sky.
Screeeech—
The blades met in mid-air.
Lashing tongues of fire sputtered wildly in all directions.
Whether it was the somewhat fragile control consoles or the incredibly sturdy alloy floor, everything was instantly melted into bottomless holes upon contact.
Mammon was using the power of the Dominion of Destruction.
It was worth noting.
Even for someone as powerful as him, the word "use" was the only way to describe his handling of the Dominion. As subordinates of the Antimatter Legion, the Sky People who walked the Path of Destruction were considered ordinary Pathstriders.
Unwatched by their Astral God, their understanding of the Dominion of Destruction was extremely limited, leaving them in a state of knowing what it did but not how. They didn't even possess the power to truly "manipulate" the Dominion and could only activate it through fixed routines.
But Himeko was different.
Although the Authority of Flame she wielded was not as powerful as the Dominion of Destruction, she could perform extremely precise operations. The Astral God of Order had already fallen, and among the beings who walked the Path of Order, the Emperor might not be the strongest, but as the Grand Sovereign of Order, he could exercise a portion of the authority belonging to an Astral God.
The most direct manifestation of this.
Was that all subjects of the Empire could gain mastery over any of the subordinate Authorities the Emperor possessed.
Adding to that was an Imaginary energy reserve that surpassed the normal standards of the cosmic sea—this bonus came from the grace of the Tree: the more a civilization fought against the Quantum Sea, the more Imaginary energy it could draw from the Imaginary Space. This was a fundamental law of the Imaginary Tree.
The first exchange was an even match.
Screeeech!!
The swords scraped past each other!
The ultimate expression of the Authority of Flame turned the greatsword in Himeko's hand into a pure molecular fuse.
Her own raw power was only at the Primordial Species level, but supported by Imaginary energy that was not much inferior to her opponent's, and with the additional boost from her Valkyrie armor, Mammon gained no advantage in this clash.
And the moment he switched from offense to defense, a surge of high-temperature steam suddenly erupted outwards!
Himeko had switched the type of Authority she was using.
Instantly changing the molecular motion from extremely high to extremely low, she used the impact from the Authority of Ice to forcibly create distance between them.
The two energy blades Mammon had used to intercept Himeko's slash changed from their previous crossed, X-shaped posture to a completely parallel, "door panel" shape. By converting the molecular motion pattern, the previously hyperactive "kinetic state" became an indestructible "static state." While this energy shield lacked sharpness, its defensive power more than doubled for the same energy output.
Having blocked Himeko's attack with his twin blades, Mammon was preparing to retract his power for a counterattack—he still had two unused energy blades on his back—but Himeko's sudden retreat rendered his coiled quick-draw strike completely useless.
---o---
"You, my friend."
"Are pretty strong."
Himeko had to admit that her opponent's individual combat capability was definitely superior to her own.
She considered her own level of Imaginary energy control to be top-tier among the Primordial Species. As a science officer, the ability to precisely control one's own energy was key to the success of many experimental projects. Besides teaching theory, this was precisely the area of instruction she was responsible for at St. Freya Academy.
And the Sky Person opposite her...
Despite having a higher level of raw power, he had somehow managed to control his energy leakage, which was an extremely difficult feat.
According to Himeko's original plan.
The battle between them should have, at the very least, blown this command center to smithereens. But from the moment they clashed until now, although it was only a single exchange, the collateral damage from the energy collision was less than 0.01%.
"You are not bad either, alien," a slightly "sticky" voice came from Mammon's translator. It should be noted that without the aid of a direct mechanical link, the Sky People could not directly transmit their thoughts into another's mind.
"In your civilization, a level like yours should at least rank... in the top twenty, right?"
Mammon answered Himeko's question earnestly.
His job now was to hold out until the command center's self-destruct system activated. Although he had already cast aside any thought for his own life, conserving more energy during the fight, whether to take down a few more enemies or to increase his chances of survival after the explosion, was a welcome bonus.
"Top twenty!?"
This was definitely the most "sycophantic" flattery Himeko had ever heard.
From the Sky People's perspective, saying "top twenty" was not unreasonable. After all, Mammon himself was a super expert who ranked in the top five of his entire civilization. Judging the enemy by his own standards based on the scale and combat power of their fleet, "top twenty" was a fairly reliable guess.
However...
"Mr. Commander."
"Although I'm very grateful for your 'high praise'."
Himeko changed her stance, her grip on the sword becoming more aggressive.
"But at my level... adding two zeros to that number might be an exaggeration, but one zero is definitely—"
BOOM!
"—more than enough!"
Crimson flames soared, and fiery meteors streaked through the air.
The greatsword carved a river-like trench in the floor. Protected by her Valkyrie armor, Himeko used her ultimate move to launch an explosive blow from behind her, charging at Mammon from a low sword stance!
This was a purely offensive posture.
While it guaranteed a 160-degree swing arc, it completely abandoned the defense of her left and upper body. For Mammon, who had fought against all sorts of civilizations, defending against such an attack was almost too easy.
A simple low slash would seal off all attack routes.
If the opponent changed her move, the initiative would fall completely into his hands. If she didn't, a follow-up launch into a mid-body slash would easily finish her. Based on the power comparison from their first exchange, his defensive counter-strategy was absolutely flawless!
The problem was...
CLANG!!!
Mammon parried the first blow as expected.
But the second blow didn't come from the same opponent!
SQUELCH!!
His head, along with his arms.
In the blink of an eye, Mammon was sliced into chunks of meat. The parts of his body not covered by armor even turned to ash and vanished in an instant.
"You... you people..."
Although one couldn't see the expression on the chunks of meat.
A strong sense of unwillingness could be heard in Mammon's voice.
"Mr. Commander."
"This isn't exactly an honorable duel."
Sheathing her greatsword, Himeko walked up to Mammon, whose body was decomposing into elementary particles and rapidly dissipating.
"At least... not when they're around."
"..."
"My respects to you, Science Officer Murata."
A figure emerged from the shadows, its form completely obscured by black armor and a cloak. The giant scythe in its hand flowed like water back into the shadows.
[Vanguard's Edge]
Subordinate to the Plague Legion, they were the rarest type of special combat unit, composed entirely of the purest Newborn Species and their advanced Primordial Species forms. They were masters of the Authorities of Death and Wind.
The entire unit was divided into Infiltrator, Suppressor, and Annihilator squads. The one who appeared beside Himeko was an "Annihilator," responsible for assassinating important targets of all levels.
On a side note.
As a black ops unit, they usually carried out their missions in advance and alone. "Cooperative combat" like this was not their area of expertise. "My respects to you" was their catchphrase, and it was not a compliment.
In this regard.
One could only say that the composition of this cobbled-together expeditionary force was... overly complex.
"My respects to you."
"Codename..." Himeko glanced at the identification code sent by Professor Welt. "...Lady 'Shadow'."
The colleague before her was of comparable strength.
Her base power was at the Primordial Species level. By relying on her Authorities and the stealth of her special armor, she had completely forsaken defense to achieve that one-hit kill.
"We have control of all systems."
"The coordinates of the Sky People's home world have been delivered to Commander Welt."
Beside Lady "Shadow," another member of the Vanguard's Edge, codenamed "Breaker," who seemed to have split off from the shadows, slowly rose from the ground.
"According to the intelligence we just obtained, given this supreme commander's style of operation, there is a seventy-four percent probability that the coordinates are a trap."
Unlike "Shadow," this "Breaker" was unusually talkative.
"To fully analyze this intelligence."
"It would take approximately one-third of an Imperial Standard Month."
"..."
"That's a bit long," Himeko said, looking at the novel yet primitive electronic equipment around her. Outside the command center door, the battle, now in its cleanup phase, was about to end.
"Our 'vacation' is only seven days in total."
"It's better than tipping them off," a male voice rang out. At the same time, the two members of the Vanguard's Edge bowed their heads to Welt, who had appeared as a projected image.
"Professor Welt."
The communication facilities of the frontline base had been completely captured.
However, Welt did not deactivate his Collapsed State, instead maintaining his combat posture to guard against any "returning" Sky People fleets that arrived unannounced. As the final communication link with the home world, the number of starships, large and small, traveling to and from here was by no means small.
"The legion members here all came for military honors."
"We can't just hand over our results to the liaison reinforcements when we're about to get them (calculations are more than halfway done), can we?"
That was right.
Regardless of the pretext under which they had appeared here, the public holiday leave taken by the legion members was, after all, only seven days. Subtracting half a day reserved for the return trip, and the waiting time before that (while Welt and Himeko were still on Earth), the expeditionary force had to find the exact coordinates of the Sky People's home world and attack within four days. Under a state of war, the legion members' public holidays would be very humanely and automatically extended.
"I agree with Science Officer Murata," General Vik said, arriving at the command center at that moment. He shot a subtle and wary glance at the Vanguard's Edge members beside Himeko, then picked up where she left off, adding, "This boarding action."
General Vik was a veteran, after all. His words carried some weight.
"The Helljumpers' loss rate didn't even exceed thirty percent. To just leave with our tails between our legs like this... I personally have no objection, but I'm afraid the 'lads' will get emotional."
The Helljumpers were known for their high loss rates.
Although this was their first clash with a cosmic civilization, they were still using their past experience fighting Quantum Beasts for their statistics: a battle with less than fifty percent losses was, in the eyes of a Helljumper, as if they hadn't even shown up.
"Losses?"
"Oh my~"
"Can't you subordinates be a little more considerate of our hard work?"
A sigh echoed simultaneously in everyone's minds.
"Putting a bunch of scrap metal back together... is very troublesome, you know."
"—!!"
A Void Gate opened above.
The two figures who stepped out of it made everyone instinctively straighten their bodies.
[The Sixth Flame-Chaser · Vill-V]
[The Seventh Apostle · Plague Templar]
---o---
"I'm guessing some of you are still wondering why a leader would show up here."
Vill-V's tone didn't sound very enthusiastic. General Vik, who received a casual glance from her, didn't dare to move a muscle, forcing himself to endure the "phantom sweat" trickling down his neck. Over half of the modern Imperial Mechanical Species' genes had been technologically modified by Vill-V, and the resurrection of Mechanical Species was mostly done by her hand (the other one who could do it, Xiao Zi, was "recently" not within the Empire). Thus, she held immense influence among the Mechanical Species of the Empire.
"It's the Emperor's benevolence, of course~" Vill-V said with a wave of her hand as she slowly descended from the air.
"It's because more than a quarter of you guys (the Helljumpers) ran off to here that I had to come along."
Vill-V swept her gaze around the area.
"Not smart when you should be."
"But your brains sure work fast when it comes to things you shouldn't know."
While Vill-V paused, the Plague Templar's voice, with a缥缈, both near and far, sounded in everyone's minds:
"This Deimos Base can barely be considered a training exercise, a preliminary test."
"You don't have enough people to take down the Sky People's home world. Even if you could win, you lack the numbers to occupy it."
"Moreover, there is a high probability that the Antimatter Legion has a garrison on the Sky People's home world."
As the second object of the Plague Legion's loyalty.
This Templar Apostle did not speak much, and when he did, he mostly stated facts.
"The two of us are here, one, to save as many Imperial subjects as possible."
"And two..."
Before the Plague Templar could finish.
Spatial fluctuations, perceptible without any equipment, appeared in waves around the Deimos Base. An entire "Standard Templar Legion's" worth of Imperial troops, along with a completely new Imperial fleet, appeared directly before their eyes.
"...to bring the reinforcements," the Plague Templar's flat voice continued without pause.
"You have already demonstrated the effectiveness of small-scale combat by Imperial troops."
"Next."
"We need to use the Sky People's home world to verify..."
"...just what a complete legion is truly capable of."