The Western Frontier of the Central Domain had long since forgotten what peace looked like.
This was not land meant for living beings. The ground beneath the endless sky was no longer soil, no longer rock—it was a hardened stratum of crushed bones, shattered carapaces, and fossilized ichor. Layer upon layer, compacted by time and consumption, a monument to millennia of insectoid dominion. Entire civilizations had been eaten here. Entire ecosystems digested and excreted into history.
Above it all, the sky hung like a bruise that never healed.
A sickly purple haze choked the heavens, thick with industrial exhaust spewing from the Insect Queen's birthing pits. Each cloud carried the stench of ammonia, decay, and overheated biomass. The air itself felt alive—and hostile.
Five thousand meters above this biological hellscape, the Black Dragon Fortress hovered in silence.
Its shadow stretched across the land like the wing of a god.
Anti-gravity engines hummed with a deep, resonant vibration that reached the bone, powered by the inexhaustible mana output of the Spirit-Fusion Drive. Massive rune arrays pulsed faintly along its armored hull, stabilizing it against the crushing force of the Central Domain's hundredfold gravity.
On the open flight deck, Su Chen stood alone.
Golden light rippled across his skin as his Gold Body absorbed the harsh ultraviolet radiation of the sun. Even under gravity that would have flattened continents, he stood perfectly upright. The Star Traveler energy field wrapped around him like an invisible crown, negating pressure, mass, and inertia itself.
He looked down.
The land was moving.
At first glance, it seemed like the terrain itself was flowing. But then the details sharpened—and the truth revealed itself.
A tide of black and crimson chitin surged across the plains, advancing eastward in absolute unity. Billions of bodies moved as one. Magma Beetles, their shells glowing with internal heat. Acid-Spitting Hydras, leaving sizzling trails behind them. Scythe-Winged Mantises, their wings screaming as they cut through the air.
The sound was indescribable.
Not footsteps—a mountain grinding itself into dust.
Su Chen's gaze remained calm.
"It begins," he said quietly.
Today, the insects would learn a new truth.
They were no longer the predators.
---
"RELEASE THE LEGION."
His voice detonated across the sky.
Amplified by the overlapping resonance of Thu'um and Lion's Roar, the command became law. Sound itself bent. The clouds rippled outward like water struck by a hammer.
The Black Dragon Fortress responded.
With a deep metallic groan, its bay doors split open.
Then—
They fell.
Not chaotically.
Not desperately.
They descended in perfect formation.
One hundred thousand Void Stalkers dropped from the sky like falling stars.
Each was a bio-engineered monstrosity born from Su Chen's alchemy—an unholy synthesis of the Tyrant Virus, Ignis's Dragon Blood, and the regenerative template of a Void Leviathan. Flesh engineered to kill. Bones designed to adapt.
They hit the ground.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Impact after impact tore craters into the bone-layered earth. Shockwaves rippled outward, throwing insects into the air like leaves in a storm.
The swarm screeched, instinctively sensing fresh prey.
Then the dust cleared.
The Void Stalkers rose.
Three meters tall. Obsidian-black skin glistening like polished stone. Eyes glowing with the cold, predatory intelligence of the T-Virus. Their breathing alone carried menace.
Two tides met.
And the world screamed.
---
The Frontline — Albedo's Phalanx
"Hold the line!"
Albedo stood at the very front of the formation, immovable.
Encased in her full-body black plate armor, Hermes Trismegistus, she looked less like a guardian and more like a war deity descended to judge the unworthy. Dark wings spread slightly behind her, stabilizing her stance against the impact.
In her hands, the World Item, Ginnungagap, had transformed into a massive bardiche.
She swung.
SLASH.
The air pressure alone erased fifty Magma Beetles. Their bodies ruptured before the blade even touched them, internal organs liquefying under compressed force.
Behind her, five thousand Skeleton Elites formed an unbreakable wall.
These were not brittle undead.
Level 30 elites. Bones reinforced with Dragon Steel plating, mass-produced under Su Chen's directive. Their eye sockets burned with disciplined focus as shields locked together with mechanical precision.
The swarm crashed into them.
CLANG—CRUNCH—SCREEE.
"Push!" Albedo roared.
The skeletons moved as one. Blades thrust through shield gaps.
Stab.
Stab.
Stab.
The Murasame Curse activated instantly.
Black veins crawled across insect carapaces the moment steel kissed chitin. Regeneration failed. Nervous systems collapsed. Creatures that once required decapitation fell dead from superficial wounds.
Albedo felt a familiar warmth bloom in her chest.
Master's weapons… divine, she thought, cheeks faintly flushed beneath her helm.
To bestow the authority of Immediate Death upon foot soldiers…
A Siege Beetle, Level 50, charged the line, its mandibles glowing as lava poured from its mouth.
Albedo didn't move.
She planted her shield.
"Skill: Wall of Jericho."
Dark energy erupted outward. The lava splashed harmlessly against the barrier, hissing into steam.
Albedo laughed—low, cruel, beautiful.
"Is that all?" she mocked. "My Master's bathwater is hotter than this."
---
The Left Flank — Esdeath's Playground
On the left flank, the battlefield went silent.
White swallowed everything.
Esdeath walked forward unhurriedly, white military uniform pristine, rapier hanging loosely at her side. Every step she took froze the world around her.
Her evolved Teigu: Demon's Extract, fused with Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, had transcended elemental ice.
This was Absolute Zero Spirit Ice.
Insects lunged—and froze mid-air. Their cells shattered instantly under thermal shock, bodies collapsing into crystalline dust.
"Boring," Esdeath sighed, casually shattering a frozen mantis with a kick. "Quantity without spirit is meaningless."
The ground exploded beneath her.
A Dune Worm, Level 60 Elite, burst upward, maw wide enough to swallow armored vehicles.
Esdeath smiled.
"Finally," she murmured. "Something with a spine."
She stomped.
"Ice Cavalry: Grand Stampede."
Hundreds of ice lances erupted upward, impaling the worm from within. It shrieked, thrashing uselessly.
Esdeath leaped, forming a massive ice meteor overhead.
"Hagelsprung."
CRUNCH.
The worm ceased to exist.
Landing atop the corpse, Esdeath licked her lips.
"Su Chen was right," she said softly. "This world suits me."
---
The True Horror — Evolution in Real Time
While generals dominated, the real terror unfolded in the chaos below.
The Void Stalkers were not merely fighting.
They were feeding.
Programmed with a single directive—Consume and Adapt—they tore through the swarm with brutal efficiency.
One lost an arm to a mantis blade. It didn't retreat. It tackled the creature, crushed its throat, and devoured its Spirit Core.
Its body convulsed.
Flesh reknit. The arm regenerated—not as flesh, but as a scaled scythe identical to its prey.
Another was bathed in acid. Skin melted. It survived, devoured the source, and evolved acid sacs and full immunity.
The legion didn't shrink.
It improved.
From the bridge, Saya Takagi whispered, eyes wide.
"They're evolving mid-battle… Generation 1.5 already."
---
The Sky — Su Chen Moves
Su Chen watched calmly.
"The ground war is decided," he said. "But the Queen still hides."
He sensed her—psychic energy coiling deep within the Hive.
Raising his hand, 365 micro-blades formed around him.
"Soaring Shuttle," he murmured.
"First Form: Mountain Drill."
The blades fused.
Mach 20.
The Hive screamed.
Su Chen smiled.
"Weapon test successful."
Then he turned.
"Saeko. With me."
Space warped.
And they vanished into the Hive's heart.