Chapter 21: Zero-G Slaughter
Location: Station 9 – The Simulation Deck
The station screamed.
It wasn't just the metal groaning under the gravitational stress of the nearby Black Hole; it was the psychic scream of the Void tearing reality apart.
In the Simulation Deck, chaos reigned. The blast doors sealed shut automatically, trapping the students inside with the Academy of Silence.
"Kill them!" General Iron roared, his cannon arm spinning up. "They are hostiles! Open fire!"
But the Academy of Silence students didn't panic. They simply... unzipped.
Their grey robes fell away. Their skin split open.
Underneath the human disguises were bodies made of grey, fibrous muscle and exposed bone. They looked like flayed mannequins with no faces, only vertical mouths filled with needles.
[Enemy Identified: Hollow Soldiers]
[Rank: A-Rank (Elite)]
[Status: Void Corrupted]
"Harvest..." The Bandaged Boy (Subject 01) floated in the center of the room. He didn't transform. He simply pointed at the comatose American students. "Biomass... needed."
The Hollow Soldiers lunged. Their speed was unnatural, their limbs bending at impossible angles.
"Not on my watch!" Long Ao roared.
The Dragon Prince stepped in front of the medical bay. He was no longer arrogant; he was desperate.
"Golden Dragon Art: Scale Wall!"
A barrier of golden mana erupted, blocking three Hollows from reaching the unconscious Americans.
"Jiang Chen!" Long Ao shouted, sweat pouring down his face. "Go! Stop the breach! If the station falls, we all die! We'll hold the line here!"
Jiang Chen looked at his team.
Gu Jian was drawing his sword, his hands shaking but his stance firm. Bai Ling was freezing the air, creating ice barricades. Even the defeated European team was scrambling to their feet, activating their energy shields.
"Don't die," Jiang Chen said simply.
He turned to the sealed blast door.
"Husband," Mo You whispered, her daggers spinning. "The door is S-Rank Titanium."
"It's in my way," Jiang Chen said.
He gripped Nightfall. The purple Grandmist Core in his chest spun violently.
[Trinity Art: Void Cutter.]
He slashed horizontally.
SHING.
A line of purple light appeared on the blast door. A second later, the massive metal slab slid diagonally, cut cleanly in half. It crashed to the floor with a deafening boom.
"Let's go," Jiang Chen commanded.
He sprinted into the corridor, flanked by his wives.
Location: Sector 3 Corridor
The hallway was a disaster zone. Gravity was fluctuating wildly. One second it was 1G, the next it was zero.
"Station integrity at 40%," the PA system announced calmly. "Life support failing in Sectors 1 through 5."
"They are heading for the Core," Jiang Chen analyzed, running on the wall as gravity shifted sideways. "If they corrupt the Station Core, they can pilot this entire city into the Black Hole."
SCREECH!
A vent in the ceiling exploded.
A swarm of Void Parasites—crab-like creatures the size of dogs—poured out. They chattered, mandibles dripping with acidic sludge.
"Ew, bugs!" Feng Xi wrinkled her nose.
She didn't stop running. She just snapped her fingers.
"Solar Aura: Immolation."
A sphere of white fire expanded around her. As the parasites leaped, they hit the fire and instantly popped like popcorn.
"Mo You," Jiang Chen called out.
"I see them," Mo You replied.
Ahead of them, three large Void Knights blocked the path. They wielded swords made of bone and corruption.
Mo You merged with the shadows on the floor.
ZIP.
She reappeared behind the knights.
"Abyssal Art: Shadow Decapitation."
She crossed her daggers. Three heads flew into the air before the knights even realized she was there.
They were a grinder. A perfect, unstoppable machine of destruction. Jiang Chen was the tip of the spear, blasting through obstacles with Grandmist force. Feng Xi was the shield, burning away corruption. Mo You was the assassin, clearing the flanks.
They reached the Welcome Hall.
Or what was left of it.
Location: The Welcome Hall (The Breach)
Jiang Chen stopped.
The massive glass ceiling was gone. The artificial atmosphere field was flickering, barely holding back the vacuum of space.
Dominating the center of the hall was the Breach.
It was a tear in space, jagged and violet. And climbing out of it was something that defied logic.
It looked like a hand. A hand the size of a skyscraper. It was gripping the edges of the portal, pulling itself through.
Attached to the hand was a massive, serpentine body made of grey flesh and weeping eyes.
[Boss Detected: The Herald of Entropy]
[Rank: Pseudo-SS (Void Beast)]
[Objective: Destroy the Herald before it fully emerges.]
Standing in front of the beast, offering it cubes of blue energy (the Station's fuel cells), were a dozen Cultists.
"It's feeding," Jiang Chen realized. "It's eating the station's power to widen the hole."
"That thing is big," Feng Xi floated up, her eyes wide. "Can we keep it? No, wait, it's ugly. Kill it."
"The gravity here is gone," Mo You noted as she floated off the floor. The proximity to the breach had nullified the artificial gravity.
"Perfect," Jiang Chen grinned.
He kicked off a floating piece of debris.
"System. Activate Chaos Sutra."
[Grandmist Core Output: 100%.]
Jiang Chen shot toward the giant hand.
The Herald noticed him. Hundreds of eyes on its arm swiveled to focus on the tiny purple speck.
"PEST."
The telepathic voice slammed into Jiang Chen's mind.
The giant hand swiped. It moved surprisingly fast for something so massive.
Jiang Chen didn't dodge.
"Void Step."
He vanished. He reappeared on the hand, running up the massive grey fingers.
"Mo You! Cut the tendons!"
"With pleasure!"
Mo You turned into a giant Shadow Scythe. She slashed the wrist of the beast. Black blood sprayed into the vacuum, freezing instantly into crystals.
The Herald roared in pain. Its grip on the portal loosened.
"Feng Xi! Burn the eyes!"
"Sunlight Laser!"
Feng Xi unleashed a barrage of laser beams, targeting the weeping eyes on the arm.
POP. POP. POP.
The eyes exploded.
The Herald thrashed, trying to retreat back into the portal.
"Oh no you don't," Jiang Chen reached the top of the arm. He stood on the creature's shoulder, looking down into the swirling purple abyss of the portal.
He raised Nightfall.
He channeled the Star Metal he had absorbed from the Lich. He channeled the Dragon and Phoenix bloodlines.
[Trinity Art: Starfall Guillotine.]
A 100-meter long blade of solidified Grandmist energy formed above him.
"Go back to hell," Jiang Chen roared.
He swung down.
SHING.
The blade sliced through the thick neck of the serpentine beast.
The Herald stopped thrashing. Its massive head slid off its body, falling slowly into the portal.
The body went limp.
But the portal didn't close.
Instead, it started to suck.
[WARNING: BREACH CRITICAL.]
[VACUUM COLLAPSE IMMINENT.]
The dead body of the Herald was sucked back in. Debris, air, and loose metal began to fly toward the tear.
"Husband!" Mo You grabbed Jiang Chen's hand, anchoring herself to a pillar with shadow chains. "The pressure! It is pulling everything!"
"We need to seal it!" Jiang Chen shouted over the roar of escaping atmosphere.
"How?!" Feng Xi grabbed Jiang Chen's other leg, fluttering her wings frantically. "We don't have a cork that big!"
Jiang Chen looked at the portal. He looked at the swirling purple energy.
Grandmist Energy counters Void Energy.
"We don't need a cork," Jiang Chen realized. "We need a suture."
He looked at his wives.
"Trust me?"
"Always," Mo You said.
"Do it!" Feng Xi yelled.
Jiang Chen let go of the pillar.
"What—?!" Mo You gasped.
Jiang Chen let the vacuum pull him straight toward the tear.
He floated right into the center of the portal. The Void energy tried to eat his suit, but his purple aura burned it away.
He spread his arms.
[Grandmist Territory Skill: Reality Anchor.]
He turned his own body into a staple.
He shot chains of purple Grandmist energy from his left hand, grabbing the left side of the tear. He shot chains from his right hand, grabbing the right side.
"CLOSE!"
Jiang Chen screamed, his veins bulging. He pulled his arms together.
The fabric of space groaned. Slowly, agonizingly, the tear began to stitch itself shut.
The Void fought back. Black lightning struck Jiang Chen's chest, burning his armor.
"HUSBAND!" Mo You and Feng Xi screamed, diving toward him.
They grabbed him.
Mo You added her darkness to the left chain. Feng Xi added her light to the right chain.
[Trinity Resonance: Maximum Output.]
With the combined power of the Sovereign, the Dragon, and the Phoenix, they yanked the reality tear shut.
SNAP.
The portal vanished.
The suction stopped instantly.
Jiang Chen, Mo You, and Feng Xi fell to the floor as the artificial gravity kicked back in.
Jiang Chen lay on his back, panting. His Void Walker Suit was melted. His chest was smoking.
But the hall was silent.
"Did... did we win?" Feng Xi asked, poking Jiang Chen's cheek.
Jiang Chen gave a thumbs up. "We won."
[Hidden Quest Complete: Close the Breach.]
[Reward: Title - "Hero of the Border".]
[Reward: Station 9 Integrity Saved.]
[Planet Deed: Confirmed.]
Suddenly, slow clapping echoed from the shadows.
Jiang Chen sat up instantly, Nightfall in hand.
Emerging from the service corridor wasn't a monster. It was General Iron.
But the General looked... different. His chrome face was scratched. He was dragging the unconscious body of the Bandaged Boy (Subject 01).
"Not bad, Freshman," General Iron grinned, tossing the Cultist leader at Jiang Chen's feet. "Not bad at all."
"You caught him?" Jiang Chen asked.
"While you were playing hero, I was taking out the trash," General Iron said. He looked at the sealed breach.
"You saved the station, Jiang Chen. And by Alliance law... if you save a territory from a Void Invasion, you own the salvage rights."
General Iron saluted.
"Congratulations, Lord Jiang. You now own Station 9."
Jiang Chen blinked. He looked at the massive space station.
"I own... a space station?"
"And a planet," General Iron added. "Don't forget the planet."
Jiang Chen laid his head back down on the floor.
"I'm going to need a bigger wallet."