Translucent black crystals flew everywhere.
The golden energy that had been flowing rhythmically through Hyper Zetton's body was forcibly halted for an instant as it passed through its midsection.
The upper part of Hyper Zetton's previously straight body, its "longhorn beetle" horns that shot up toward the sky, were forcefully bent forward. The charging process for its [One-Trillion-Degree Fireball], which was nearly halfway complete, was abruptly interrupted by the sudden attack.
"What's happening!?"
The shockwave disrupted the optical observation equipment on the Astral Express.
Aside from the violent tremors, Himeko had no idea what was going on. All she knew was that a "big thing" had warped in and crashed directly into Hyper Zetton... The good news was that it was more likely a friend than a foe.
"Acquired spatial model of the target!"
"It's another ten-thousand-meter-class behemoth! Its long-axis is shorter than the enemy's, but its estimated volume is likely comparable to Hyper Zetton's!"
Soon, after the initial impact had passed, the Astral Express, having weathered the aftershocks, was finally able to get a look at the newcomer.
"An Ancient Beast!?"
"No."
Although Himeko was also shocked at the first sight of the creature, she quickly regained her composure.
"The Path of Immortality!"
"This is a Dragonkin approaching the Stellar-class!"
[Dragonkin] were rare. The existing [Dragonkin] almost never appeared within the sight of civilizations, not to mention the blow this one had just delivered to Hyper Zetton. Even if it wasn't Stellar-class, it was definitely at the forefront of the Super-Star-Destroying class. Because of the [Path of Immortality], most [Dragonkin] were "collected" as precious materials during their weak juvenile stage. Even "pets" raised by powerful figures would be disposed of as they approached adulthood.
After all, the trait of the [Path of Immortality], which strengthened with age, was considered far too dangerous by most organizations and civilizations. The [Dragonkin] were relatively united internally but extremely hostile to outsiders. Before the passing of "Long, the Astral God of Immortality," this "hostility" was better described by a more accurate word: brutality.
Stellar-class was already within the realm of an [Emissary].
Across the entire universe, one would be hard-pressed to find even a hundred organizations, races, or civilizations that possessed an Emissary. The number of well-known or active [Emissaries] was less than a third of that.
Regardless of anything else, the highest level of combat power in the M81 Galaxy, where the Astral Express was docked, was only at the star-destroying class.
According to the records in the Express Library, a Super-Star-Destroying-class [Dragonkin] would have been considered a high-end combatant among its entire race, even during the era when the Astral God of Immortality was still alive.
The cosmic sea had not seen a behemoth of this level for a very long time.
"Humans."
A sudden wave of thought echoed in Himeko's mind.
The immense contrast almost made Himeko misjudge the source of the voice. If not for the Path aura, which was identical to that of the [Dragonkin], Himeko could never have imagined that this somewhat "child-like," emotionless voice could have come from the giant beast that had just headbutted Hyper Zetton!
"Hurry up and repair your weapon."
"I'll hold off this big longhorn beetle (dinosaur) for you."
THOOM!!!
As the voice continued in Himeko's mind, the giant beast extended a claw and clamped down firmly on Hyper Zetton's "shoulder," following up with a second savage headbutt!
"...Alright!"
Himeko agreed decisively.
Regardless of the other party's identity or purpose, since they had come all this way to help, they were definitely an ally, at least in the matter of dealing with the Antimatter Legion.
Hyper Zetton was extremely powerful.
Due to its specialized purpose, the M78 Galaxy hadn't built Zetton to be an all-around warrior from the start... their civilization was not lacking in high-end combatants.
After being acquired by the Antimatter Legion, Hyper Zetton's attributes had become even more extreme. Its weak points, such as physical defense and anti-swarm capabilities, were at the star-destroying class at best. But when it came to its energy defense and its ultimate attack, the [One-Trillion-Degree Fireball], its power level immediately soared to Super-Star-Destroying or even Stellar-class.
Whether the reinforcing [Dragonkin] could defeat it remained an unknown.
In every sense... the "Express Cannon" had to be repaired. Only then could [The Nameless] gain some measure of control over the situation.
---o---
Behemoth had landed two consecutive headbutts on Hyper Zetton, leaving it somewhat disoriented.
Cheche didn't use her [Great Sun Collapsed State]. Compared to Ziz, her body could actually accommodate more of the Monarch's power (currently, her normal state primarily manifested the [Dominion of Immortality]). However, Ziz was currently borrowing Little Bai's Dominions, and the enemy she faced was far more powerful than the Hyper Zetton in space, so Cheche refrained from such a profligate act.
The Monarch's Imaginary energy reserves were somewhat "insubstantial." Although they could support the [Three Pillars] borrowing his power simultaneously (a flawed premise, as Leviathan was "slightly" weaker and couldn't use the [Great Sun Collapsed State] yet), the Monarch's main body, located inside the star, was currently acting as the "sun" for the system. Borrowing too much energy and too many Dominions would inevitably affect the Empire's mother planet.
Therefore, facing a same-level opponent that she had already closed in on and which was not skilled in melee combat, Cheche felt she could handle it for a short time.
As for telling the [Astral Express] to hurry up and repair its cannon...
Cheche was not very confident about the battle taking place within Planet V (which, in fact, no longer existed). Due to her duties, Ziz was not as battle-hardened as Cheche (all of the Empire's legions were nominally under the command of the [Pillar of Earth], just as the Ninety-Nine Chambers could be mobilized by the [Pillar of the Sea]). Even if Ziz's overall strength was a cut above her own, her opponent was, after all, the [Fragmentum Integrator]... A creation of the [Dominion of Destruction] that nominally wielded the [Dominion of Order]. The "potential conspiracy" it was involved in required even Little Bai to act with caution. This was also why she and Ziz had immediately come together after receiving Eden's request for aid.
BOOM!!!
Hyper Zetton's head was smashed out of shape.
Although its crystalline structure was rapidly regenerating, it was still not as fast as Behemoth's destruction. Diverting energy to repair its body caused the density of Hyper Zetton's close-range fire to drop by a tier, completely unable to stop the draconic tail that Cheche was preparing to slap it with!
BOOOOOM!!!!!
The "cosmic longhorn beetle" was forced to create distance.
As a celestial weapon, Hyper Zetton was equipped with a large number of armaments.
But whether it was the [Annihilation Breath], the [Energy Arc], the [Sphere Light Bullets], or the [Dark Fireball], none of its various armaments, large or small, could penetrate Behemoth's defenses. In its combat state, the "Stasis-Distortion" field formed by the [Dominion of Trailblaze] that clung to her body, combined with the super-strength structural defense from the [Dominion of Immortality], allowed Cheche to completely ignore all attacks below the Super-Star-Destroying class.
These weapons, which could pose a massive threat even to a super-fleet, were completely ineffective against Behemoth.
Of course, the damage Cheche was inflicting on Hyper Zetton was also quite limited.
Although Hyper Zetton looked badly injured, all of her close-range attacks were merely suppressive fire. Of her two strongest techniques, the [Fusion Annihilation Cannon] was an energy attack and not very effective against Hyper Zetton, and the current environment was not conducive to entering the [Great Sun Collapsed State] to unleash Little Bai's [God Fist Pulverizer].
Swoosh!!
Cheche didn't overthink it. Her insights were the result of thousands of years of slowly accumulated experience; this wasn't her area of expertise, after all.
As Hyper Zetton was sent flying by her massive tail, it seemed to realize it couldn't let this continue. If it maintained the cycle of being "damaged and repaired," it would never be able to harm the enemy before it.
BOOM!!!!!
A massive, white, cylindrical barrier rapidly deployed around Hyper Zetton.
It had deactivated its [Energy Absorption Shield], redirecting all the energy used to maintain it into releasing a [Physical Isolation Field]. This extremely risky move bought Hyper Zetton the time it needed.
Cheche's [Star-Ring Crusher] (a 100% power ramming attack) was blocked by the barrier just in the nick of time!
Next, Hyper Zetton did not use its surplus energy to repair its body.
Instead, it extended its "arms," which had been as rigid as a cross and had never moved, straight out in front of its body at a 90-degree angle!
VMMMM!!!
A silvery light, like that of stars, shone brightly. A disc-shaped light saw revealed its thirst for welding in the depths of space!
Super-Star-Destroying class!
Hyper Zetton's secondary cannon, a planet-cutting weapon—
"Eight-Thousand Split-Ray Halo!!!"
(The skill name has been reasonably enhanced based on the height ratio of the combatants.)
At the same time, a blazing white sphere of light, wreathed in lightning, erupted from Behemoth's mouth!
SWOOSH!!!
Consuming its own shell to fuel the reaction, Behemoth's strongest instant-cast technique—
[Plutonium Flash]
POP.
They collided, entangled, and then...
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
---o---
The light faded.
When vision could once again function, the oppressively powerful [Fragmentum Integrator] had vanished within the golden pillar of light.
In its place was a hollow, purple hexahedron floating quietly in Ziz's palm:
[The Holy Ark]
"..."
Ziz's expression was not relaxed.
The [Great Sun Collapsed State] had consumed a massive amount of her Imaginary energy reserves, including the power she had temporarily borrowed from Little Bai.
But that wasn't important.
Even in her normal state, she could still maintain Super-Star-Destroying-class combat power.
The crucial point was something else—
"As I thought."
"An aura extremely similar to Little Bai's."
From the [Holy Ark] that the [Fragmentum Integrator] had transformed into, Ziz sensed an aura similar to Little Bai's. To be more precise, it was an aura extremely similar to the [Honkai Crystal].
This top-tier Fragmentum creature, born from a Stellaron, could, to some extent, be considered a "lightweight replica" of Little Bai. Considering when the [Fragmentum Integrator] first appeared in the cosmic sea, it wouldn't be wrong to reverse that statement.
"Your Excellency Ziz."
Ziz had been standing there for a while. Elio, who was maintaining his projection with the last dregs of his power, had no choice but to interrupt her thoughts.
"Your Excellency Elio."
Ziz paid the leader of the [Stellaron Hunters] the same courtesy. Although the projection before her showed nothing special, his main body was, after all, a great figure at the [Emissary] level of the [Path of Nihility]. And that was just the information available in the intelligence of various civilizations; whether he had revealed his full strength was still unknown.
"Thank you for your help."
"Otherwise, Kafka and Silver Wolf's mission this time would have been quite difficult... The Antimatter Legion has considered us a thorn in their side for a long time. I have no doubt this was a trap targeting the Stellaron Hunters."
"Both Your Excellency and the members of [The Nameless] were likely drawn into this because of us."
Elio spoke very politely.
After all, from the perspective of [The Nameless], this operation by the Antimatter Legion might well have been partly aimed at them. When Akivili was alive, he and Nanook were not of the same faction, and the [Astral Express] had foiled the Antimatter Legion's plans more than a few times during its travels across the cosmic sea.
At the same time, although Elio's projection had little energy left, the aura it exuded had grown tremendously compared to before. His description of the mission being "difficult" was a far cry from the earlier prospect of "losing his subordinates."
In other words, the trouble his main body had encountered had likely been resolved. That he hadn't expended great effort to send more Imaginary energy to the projection until the very end was probably a very important part of it.
"Kafka."
Kafka, who had been heavily injured by the Stellaron's explosion, had regained consciousness.
"Use that coat from your collection (Idrila's relic) as a 'token of respect'."
Although Elio was speaking to Kafka, his gaze never left Ziz.
"Lacking the [Authority of Beauty], you cannot unleash her power."
"Besides..."
"To unleash power approaching the Super-Stellar-class from a Super-Star-Destroying-class level."
Elio spoke very formally.
"A leap of two full tiers... Your Excellency Ziz's contribution is too great to be repaid with mere words of gratitude."
Whether out of admiration, a desire to foster goodwill, or concern, Ziz's display of power had truly shocked Elio. Regardless of the size of this civilization, the fact that a single non-leader individual could briefly contend with an [Emissary]-level being meant that the "Monarch" they spoke of... Elio was strong, strong enough to escape from a [Grand Monarch] (otherwise Annihilation would have crushed the [Stellaron Hunters] long ago), but he was still a step away from the level of a [Grand Monarch].
Toward a civilization that very likely had a Grand Monarch and was hostile to the Antimatter Legion... showing goodwill was undoubtedly the wise choice.
Author's Note: Power Level Breakdown
A reader asked about the power level divisions, so I'll share the part of the outline I can "reveal" to make it easier to understand:
[Primordial Species] = Old Monarch-class ~ Old Judgment-class (Weak) = City-destroying
[Higher Primordial Species] = Old Judgment-class (Strong) ~ Old Herrscher-class = Nation-destroying
[Imperial Apostle] = Surface-wiping (Moon-busting)
Apostle's [Monarch Armament] (Four Templars), Flame-Chaser's [Artificial Collapsed State] (Top few) = Brief Star-busting
[Three Pillars], [Top Three Flame-Chasers] = Star-busting ~ Super-Star-busting
Ziz and Cheche's [Great Sun Collapsed State (True Name: Little Bai Armament)], Kevin's [Salvation Collapsed State] = Brief Stellar-class
[Emissary] = Stellar-class ~ Super-Stellar-class (Here, "Super" refers to destroying a star in a single blow)
[Grand Monarch] = Galaxy-class ~ Super-Galaxy-class
[Astral God] = Universe-level ~ Single-entity (Cosmic)
[Tree & Sea] = Multiversal