"This place is so empty… Hard to imagine there's a spot like this on the space station…"
"I already told you—it's a docking area specifically for non-human entities… Being spacious is pretty normal."
Lynelle gripped tightly the projection of the "Black Abyss White Flower" conjured by her power, ready to instantly obliterate any bug that dared pop up.
"Huh?"
Just then, Stelle seemed to notice something and quickened her pace forward a few steps.
"Lynelle, look at this… Is this that giant insect's cultivation tank? Or is this orange liquid…"
"Idiot, get down!"
Before the words fully left her mouth, Stelle already sensed the peculiar, unmistakable scent of a True Sting rushing up from behind her.
Yet, the moment she heard Lynelle's voice, relying on their ridiculously high level of trust, the girl's body instinctively half-crouched on the spot ahead of her conscious thought.
With a sharp whistling sound, Stelle barely caught a glimpse of a streak of black-and-white light shooting past right over her head.
Immediately, without a second thought, she summoned her Flaming Lance and thrust it backwards behind her—sure enough, in less than half a second, a violent explosive impact erupted from her rear.
That distinctive True Sting scent also seemed forced to retreat somewhat from the blow.
Only then did Stelle get a chance to see just what had tried to ambush her. However, one glance left her utterly stunned.
"Wait, this… is it really a clone of an Emanator of Propagation?"
After all, following that incident of being swallowed whole by a Giant True Sting, plus the updated Simulated Universe—"Swarm Disaster"—Stelle had persistently pestered Uncle Yang and Dan Heng to tutor her extensively on the Propagation.
And this enormous insect before her, its massive form crystalline and glowing with a translucent blue-purple hue, was unmistakably an Emanator of the Swarm—the Starcrusher Swarm King… Sk… Sk-something Gaba?
"That's the Starcrusher Swarm King, Skaracabaz." Fortunately, Lynelle, who had hurriedly rushed to her side, cleared up the confusion.
"I didn't expect Ruan Mei to replicate this one… That could be tricky. Among the six branches of Propagation's progeny, the Starcrusher line is also known for its destructive power."
"Don't try to defeat it—just hold it off. The Starcrusher Swarm King feeds on stars; the gravitational force at its core is practically comparable to a black hole."
"In other words, even disregarding Path abilities, its core places an immense burden on its own body."
"But the number of these little bugs is just too…" Stelle swept her Flaming Lance sideways, batting away three charging True Stings.
However, with just a flick of its wings, the Starcrusher Swarm King shook more tiny insects from its wing casings, swarming toward the two.
"Leave this to me." With a flick of Lynelle's longbow, a stream of pink light shot skyward.
Instantly, an infinite dome woven from pink crystal enveloped the entire central area of the Seclusion Zone.
A downpour of arrows rained forth, wiping out the dozens of True Stings nearing the pair.
Simultaneously, a shimmering green light trailed from Lynelle's fingertips, coiling around Stelle and completely healing the several wounds on the girl's body.
"Even though I'd seen it in the Simulated Universe, this scene of the big bug spawning little ones, which then replicate themselves… it's really too sanity-draining."
Boosted by Lynelle's buff, Stelle immediately stood up, positioning herself in front of Lynelle once more.
She leveled her Flaming Lance, intercepting a beam of annihilation light condensed within the Starcrusher Swarm King's maw.
"You know, Stelle…" Lynelle shot another volley of black flames of Destruction attached to the Black Abyss White Flower, while glancing sideways at the Flaming Lance in Stelle's hands.
"What surprises me most is that you blocked the Starcrusher Swarm King's annihilation beam completely unscathed… That thing can disintegrate celestial bodies."
"Huh?"
Like Tom from Tom and Jerry, who'd make Newton turn in his grave, Stelle only then reacted belatedly, hurriedly retracting her Flaming Lance.
Yet, the outer layer of the weapon remained as pristine as before, as if the Starcrusher Swarm King's annihilation beam had merely given it a polish.
"This… Is it really as powerful as you say, Lynelle?"
"That's the biggest issue." Lynelle slightly furrowed her brows.
"Don't you think… even as a clone of an Emanator of Propagation, this Starcrusher Swarm King is a bit too weak…"
"And so far, it hasn't used any Path power beyond Propagation. That's abnormal. Even the little bugs outside have traces of Abundance's Path energy lingering in them… Ruan Mei's experiment progress couldn't possibly be regressing, could it?"
"Wait, I understood the first part, but what do you mean by the latter?" Stelle doubted her ears. "Beyond Propagation…? It couldn't possibly be hiding some other latent power, could it?"
"Hard to say… Maybe Ruan Mei has a big surprise in store for us?" Lynelle shook her head, then suddenly her expression changed.
"Oh no, Stelle, get back!"
In the few moments they'd been talking, the Starcrusher Swarm King, realizing both its annihilation beam and swarming True Stings were ineffective, let out a piercing shriek without hesitation.
Instantly, its carapace glowed with a blue-purple phosphorescence, and a dark core radiating immense pressure slowly emerged from within its body.
Then, massive amounts of energy began flowing from its carapace toward the core.
The Starcrusher Swarm King's body seemed to shrink by more than just a little.
Of course, in return, the might emanating from this core continuously expanded—probably palpable even to the Cake Cats outside the Seclusion Zone.
"Lynelle, if it unleashes this, the space station will be destroyed!"
"Don't panic. Stay behind me."
Though the variation Lynelle had anticipated in the Starcrusher Swarm King compared to its original game counterpart hadn't occurred, before arriving, Lynelle had still made ample preparations.
At the very least, for this ultimate move the Starcrusher Swarm King never displayed in the original, Lynelle had prepared a countermeasure in advance.
A card instantly appeared in the girl's hand.
Stelle, standing behind Lynelle, keenly observed that the image on this card… she felt like she'd seen it somewhere before?
"Witness the shattering of stars—though your original self might see it daily, as a clone, this should be your first time experiencing such a sight, right?"
"Star of Eden, Zeroth Power Rating—Pseudo-Black Hole!"
Immediately, a black sphere seemingly identical to the Starcrusher Swarm King's core instantly expanded outward from before Lynelle.
Two attacks of different magnitudes but strikingly similar in nature began colliding violently within the confined space of the Seclusion Zone.
Of course, compared to the Starcrusher Swarm King, the pseudo-black hole Lynelle had just tossed out might seem "a bit at a disadvantage."
But one mustn't forget—the primary purpose of a pseudo-black hole isn't destructive power, but… buying time.
Even if this Starcrusher Swarm King could surpass the 56 seconds it survived in the original plot and successfully unleash its ultimate move, Lynelle believed that not even the Abundance's healing power from Yaoshi could possibly extend its lifespan by multiples.
As long as the pseudo-black hole could slow it down for a few minutes, its body would absolutely collapse first.
In fact, the very process of the Starcrusher Swarm King releasing its core was a suicidal one.
The original form of the Starcrusher Swarm King was part of the Swarm Emperor, its durability indeed sufficient to casually spit out its core as a black hole projectile.
But this injured, replicated body before them… to separate from its own core was no different from dragging a deep-sea fish into the open air.
Surviving an extra second would count as a medical miracle.
And reality, just as Lynelle had predicted.
As the two black holes began to entangle and collapse, the Starcrusher Swarm King's body also started to shudder violently.
Its shell continuously shrank inward, but this shrinking was utterly different from when it had channeled energy to its core.
From Lynelle and the others' perceived time, a mere twenty seconds after deploying the core, the Starcrusher Swarm King's body had already been compressed into a tiny clump.
And the energy of the core it had spat out was rapidly dissipating.
"Is… is it over?"
Seeing Lynelle voluntarily disperse the pseudo-black hole, Stelle stepped forward and asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Probably… yes?"
Though she had retracted her ability, Lynelle didn't let her guard down.
Frankly, even out of trust in a genius's capabilities, Lynelle didn't believe that Ruan Mei, having obtained technology superior to the original, would allow the Starcrusher Swarm King's power to undergo negative growth.
While this Emanator had indeed lived a bit longer, conversely, even if it hadn't collapsed, its strength was probably something Lynelle could handle with a bit of gritted teeth.
"So, should we now… wait." Stelle's voice suddenly cut off, her eyes fixed intently on the core dissipating energy in the center of the arena.
"Since the Starcrusher Swarm King is dead, why is this thing still here?"
"The answer is simple." Lynelle's lips twitched, and she pulled Stelle back a few steps.
"It probably isn't completely dead… I knew it. Ruan Mei's creations are never that straightforward."
Sure enough, as if to confirm Lynelle's words, mere seconds later, the blue orb of light before them began to tremble.
"Hey Lynelle, I have a question…" Stelle gently poked Lynelle.
"Why are we standing here like villains in a magical girl anime, waiting for the Starcrusher Swarm King's transformation sequence to finish? Can't we just go hit that light orb with my bat first—Ow!"
"Dummy." Lynelle lightly rapped Stelle on the head, sighing in exasperation.
"That thing is the core of a replicated Emanator. You still want to walk up and give it a whack? If Nanook saw that, they'd probably shower you with extra Destruction path power as a reward."
"But, it looks pretty stable to m—sssp—"
Mid-sentence, Stelle sharply inhaled, then looked at Lynelle with a strange expression.
"Huh? What is it?" Lynelle, who had been about to message Ruan Mei to ask what was going on, followed Stelle's gaze in confusion—and promptly froze.
As the orb of light continued to condense, a figure all too familiar to them both materialized at the center of the arena.
"Is that… Lynelle, but in blue and purple?!"
"Holy crap, whose Corruption-chan is that?!"
"Wait, who's 'Corruption-chan'?" Stelle looked oddly at Lynelle. "And why did the Starcrusher Swarm King… turn into you?"
"How should I know?!"
Lynelle felt her mind buzzing.
She'd considered that Ruan Mei might pull some wild stunt, but she never expected it to be this wild—did Ruan Mei really only fuse the Herrscher of Corruption power taken from her into the Starcrusher Swarm King, and not, say, directly splice in her genes as well?
However, while Lynelle and Stelle had kindly allowed the Starcrusher Swarm King its transformation time, their opponent wasn't about to return the favor.
The Starcrusher Swarm King, having completed its second phase, had now fully reabsorbed the energy dissipated during its first phase, clothing itself in an outfit that was… somewhat revealing—primarily fashioned from its own remaining carapace and foliage generated by the Corruption power.
That's right.
The Corruption power Lynelle had been unable to locate earlier was now making a grand, embarrassing appearance.
Unlike before, where a flutter of wings could spawn a host of lesser insects, this blue-and-purple-hued Starcrusher Swarm King—looking like a certain Hare—employed a completely different method.
This Lynelle-form Starcrusher Swarm King simply tapped its foot lightly, and several vines shot up from behind it, reaching the ceiling.
Then, True Sting insects the size of human heads began to tear their way out of the fruits borne by these vines, like moths bursting from cocoons.
"Uh… Lynelle, can you do that?" Stelle asked, utterly bewildered.
"The first part, yes. As for the second part… you don't actually want me to give birth to bugs, do you?!"
Lynelle jabbed Stelle's cheek indignantly while pink light once again shimmered around the bow in her hands.
"This thing might have evolved, but it still seems incapable of peaceful communication… Anyway, let's test its strength first!"
With that, three spears of Abyss Flower, wreathed in black flames, shot forth from the girl's bowstring.
--+--
Meanwhile, in Herta's office…
"Ruan Mei, don't you think it's gotten a bit… lively down in the space station?"
"Hmm…"
Ruan Mei took a delicate sip of tea, her gaze drifting calmly to the side. "Yes… I wonder what could be happening?"
"Don't play dumb with me." Herta puffed out her cheeks, pinching Ruan Mei's face lightly.
"I could pretend not to notice before, but if they're still fighting at this point, it's already far exceeded your theoretical lifespan estimate for the Starcrusher Swarm King, hasn't it?"
"Out with it. Did you add something extra to that big bug?"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.