[""The true Ruan Mei creation is hidden in the giant cultivation vat below." The plaster-head points to the path behind him. "Go on. Take this elevator and witness—[the masterpiece of a genius].""]
["Stelle follows the path downward until she reaches an open cabin chamber."]
["The place is empty and dimly lit, with only the faint cold gleam reflecting off the jagged edges of the shattered cultivation vat overhead. Stelle's boots echo unsettlingly against the floor."]
[""Drip—""]
["A drop of yellow liquid falls from the broken glass edge and splashes at her feet. Stelle dips a finger into it and finds the liquid sticky—not like nutrient fluid, but like residue left after some biological tissue has dissolved."]
—
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.
In Morioh Town, inside Trattoria Trussardi.
Josuke Higashikata's fork hovers in midair. Tomato sauce drips onto the pristine white tablecloth, blooming into a glaring red stain. He stares at the Celestial Screen where Stelle is walking alone toward the shattered cultivation vat and can't help clicking his tongue.
"Hey, what the hell… Get out of there already, Stelle!" Josuke is sweating profusely. "That's an Emanator-level monster! Last time against Phantylia we barely won because we had General Jing Yuan—the Emanator of The Hunt—helping! This time she might actually die—"
"Why would Ms. Ruan Mei let Stelle go alone to such a dangerous place when she knows exactly what she's cultivating?" Koichi Hirose is equally baffled. Even though she told Stelle to call her anytime, getting that close to the power of [Abundance]—who knows what could happen? He's genuinely terrified that the Simulated Universe footage might bleed into reality.
Finally, both of them turn at the same time toward the white-coated man across the table, who is calmly holding a coffee cup: "Stelle's about to make direct contact with an Emanator! Jotaro-san, hurry up and use your invincible Star Platinum to think of something!!"
"Yare yare daze." Jotaro presses down on the hat that's practically fused with his hair. "I already tested it. Even if I stop time, the people on the Celestial Screen keep moving. And besides… Star Platinum can't punch through the screen. If I could interfere, I would have done it already."
"Also—that thing has already arrived."
Right after he speaks, Koichi suddenly feels the light in the restaurant dim for an instant—something incomprehensibly massive flashes past on the Celestial Screen, its shadow completely engulfing Stelle's figure.
—
["Stelle's pupils dilate slightly."]
["Then comes the deafening roar from behind her—like thunder exploding out of an abyss, shaking the bulkheads. The hairs on the back of Stelle's neck stand on end. Icy, foul-smelling breath surges over her in a wave, lifting the hem of her coat."]
["Half a second—just half a second of stunned hesitation—"]
["The bat in her hand erupts with blinding light, as if answering the frantic beat of her heart."]
["The bat's piercing whistle through the air mixes with insectoid buzzing. The instant metal meets carapace, sparks explode like bursting stars! Stelle's tiger mouth goes numb from the recoil, and she is forced back several uncontrolled steps."]
Stelle finally sees clearly what that twisted mass of blue light behind her actually is—
A king bug towering as high as the bulkhead. Fluorescent neural-like patterns pulse across its carapace. Atop its head, a crackling orb of light continuously emits "zzt zzt" sounds, as though gathering something. Its segmented limbs scrape across the metal walls with a grating noise—like thousands of saws cutting simultaneously against her eardrums.
[""A replica of an Emanator of [Propagation]… How is this possible?""]
["The bat in Stelle's hand is still humming from the impact. The sheer weight of that single strike has already split open her tiger mouth, but it only managed to shatter a small piece of horn from the creature's proboscis. The disgusting substance hits the ground and immediately begins deforming and reproducing at visible speed—within seconds it has already transformed into a true sting bug."]
["The true sting bug does not attack Stelle immediately. Instead it begins a second [Propagation] cycle on the spot. Its body rapidly splits, and soon a second true sting bug appears."]
["Even more despairing is that the seemingly negligible scratch on the Emanator-level creature has already healed completely in an instant."]
[""The space station is going to be destroyed by it…!""]
—
Overlord.
Despair.
If one word could describe Albedo's current state of mind, it would be "despair."
Although this king bug did not inherit the near-divine reproductive ability of the Aeon [Propagation], in just a few seconds the number of bugs in the cultivation vat chamber has already expanded several times over. At this rate, it probably wouldn't take long before it regrows into a swarm vast enough to blot out the sky and sweep across entire star systems.
When the horrors of the Simulated Universe bleed into reality, there is likely no one who would not tremble—but what is even more terrifying is that they can only watch from afar through the Celestial Screen, completely unable to interfere with anything happening inside.
Sooner or later, a Swarm Disaster led by Emanators will once again sweep across the universe and devour their world. When the bugs pass through, nothing will be left…
Why would Ruan Mei cultivate something so horrifying?!
—After despair, the second emotion that surges in Albedo is extreme fury toward everything Ruan Mei has done.
The one who grasps the situation fastest is Ainz.
Although he had anticipated the power of an Emanator, when [Abundance] begins to affect the insectoid races within the Great Tomb, Cocytus's pained roar still causes him to react a beat slower.
The sound of buzzing wings from the Celestial Screen grows louder and louder. An unsettling dread envelops the entire Nazarick Underground Great Tomb.
"We must raise defensive barriers immediately!"
"Mare! Aura!"
With the sound of Ainz's staff striking the floor, the two dark elves immediately spring into action. Vines from the forest and shimmering multicolored magical screens rapidly rise around the exterior of the Great Tomb, wrapping it tightly like clothing.
Ainz himself begins chanting spells. Having instantly assessed the dire situation, he makes a judgment: they must construct a sufficiently sturdy fortress barrier around the Great Tomb before the insect tide can swallow this continent.
Even if every other nation on the surface is devoured clean, he will protect everything within this stronghold.
In less than thirty seconds, seven or eight layers of barriers have already been erected around the Great Tomb—an efficiency so terrifying that Ainz finally exhales slightly in relief.
"A-Ainz-sama! Look up!" Aura's trembling, terrified voice echoes through the Throne Room. "What is that?!"
The king bug's carapace suddenly splits open with countless cracks. Blinding blue light erupts from within its body, twisting into an ever-expanding orb of light above its head. The center of the orb is pitch black, as though devouring even the surrounding light. The cultivation vat is pulled by invisible gravity, emitting a shrill metallic tearing sound.
"N-Not good…"
Watching it aim the light orb at the exhausted Stelle in front of it, Ainz suddenly finds himself not daring to look at what comes next.