Polka Kakamond's gaze rested on Wei Qing.
No curiosity. No scrutiny. Only an empty, indifferent calm—like she was watching a specimen whose results had already been recorded.
"First time meeting you, Lord Qingzhou."
Her voice didn't travel through air. It sounded directly inside Wei Qing's mind.
Wei Qing kept his face unreadable and replied aloud, unhurried, "So you're the 'Ms. Elbow-Eye' who likes hunting down geniuses, huh?"
He'd been thinking about her for a long time. Waiting for her for a long time.
Only her timing was… odd.
He'd assumed that if the Silent Lord wanted to stir the pot, she'd show up after he and the Luofu had battered each other half to death.
That was exactly why he'd been holding back the whole time—he hadn't touched Abundance or Finality at all.
But now?
Was she planning to team up with the Luofu to take him down?
The others clearly looked surprised by her appearance, but Marshal Hua's attitude was… ambiguous. Too ambiguous.
Hua still stood there, composed. Polka's arrival didn't bring even a flicker of shock to her face.
"Lord Polka," Hua said, breaking the suffocating stillness the Silent Lord carried with her. "You're late."
"Waiting for the optimal observation window is basic discipline for a researcher, Marshal," Polka replied. "Besides… Lord Qingzhou's current state is the most valuable sample."
Wei Qing understood immediately.
So the Marshal had been working with Polka all along.
He couldn't help but think—so this is what it is. The estrangement of genius boys on the road… always ends up being capital setting the board?
Guys like him—gifted types—no matter how hard they grind, they still can't escape being played by money and power?
When were these "investor hands" going to stop manipulating the lives of hardworking kids, damn it?
Wei Qing chuckled.
"Observation window?" He raised his eyes to meet Polka's voidlike stare. "From what I know, the Silent Lord is famously mysterious. And now you're willing to cooperate with the Xianzhou's Marshal just to deal with me?"
"Looks like I'm a pretty big deal."
Even the rest of the battlefield shifted at those words.
In the entire universe, there was only one "Silent Lord."
"Cooperate? More or less." Polka admitted it plainly, without the slightest discomfort. "Given your… uniqueness, I don't have high confidence in a straight one-on-one."
"So yes. I found a reliable ally."
"I'm very interested in certain things you carry, Qingzhou."
She tilted her head slightly.
"How about we sit down and talk—properly?"
Wei Qing's lips curled into a faint, mocking arc. "Talk? Here? Under the Luofu's encirclement? Lady Polka, your invitation style is… distinctive."
"And besides." His voice cooled. "I waited ten full days. You didn't move once."
"Now I've got the Stellaron and I'm ready to leave, and suddenly you pop out saying you want to chat."
"What—are you only interested in prey once it's already inside the trap?"
Polka's gaze remained perfectly still, her emptiness swallowing every emotion that tried to form.
"I didn't have a choice. Back then, the situation wasn't suitable for me to accept your invitation."
"Because you had a troublesome little cat at your side."
"If I had acted alone at that time, I might have been the one trapped in the jar first."
Her voice stayed calm as she laid out facts like data points.
"You hold too many contradictory and overwhelming powers: Destruction as your base, Abundance's favor, The Hunt's attention, even traces of Finality…"
"That alone is the most valuable research topic in the universe."
Then her eyes sharpened—still empty, but now focused like a scalpel.
"More importantly, you're walking toward a road that's never existed before."
"An Aeon's 'reserve candidate'?"
"The concept itself is enough to make me put aside all caution."
Wei Qing's heart sank a fraction.
So she knew.
She even knew about "reserve candidates."
He hadn't expected that.
"So what?" Wei Qing said, voice edged. "The Silent Lord who likes lurking in the dark and 'harvesting' geniuses—this time you're stepping onto the stage yourself, even dragging the Xianzhou Marshal in as your partner…"
"Just so you can drag me home and slice me up for research?"
"Slice you up? That's crude," Polka said, giving a small shake of her head. "I'm interested in your concept, yes. But that isn't why I'm here."
"I truly want to talk."
"About the nature of Aeons. About the end of Paths. About the transformation you're undergoing…"
"Don't those topics sound more interesting than meaningless conflict?"
Wei Qing narrowed his eyes. He didn't believe she was that simple.
"Interesting? Maybe." He glanced at Hua, then the surrounding formations and blades. "But I don't like being treated as a specimen."
"And I like chatting even less when there are knives at my throat."
"Do you really think this is the time and place for heart-to-heart conversation?"
Polka seemed to smile—so fast it almost didn't exist.
"The situation can be changed."
She lifted a hand and tapped the air with a fingertip.
In an instant, a deeper stillness spread outward from her.
It wasn't the absence of sound.
It was a rule-level quiet, a kind of enforced pause in the world's operating principles.
Wei Qing immediately felt it—his connection to the outside became blunt, sluggish, harder to grasp.
Yet among everyone present, Hua didn't seem affected much.
Wei Qing couldn't tell whether that was because Hua's own level was simply too high, or because Polka had deliberately included her ally inside this "quiet."
Hua, for her part, looked like she'd finally exhaled—like someone stepping out of another person's home court.
"A small technique," Polka said evenly, "to ensure we won't be disturbed."
"Now—can we talk properly?"
Wei Qing felt the restraint pressing on his Path-powers and grew even more alert.
So this was the Silent Lord's brand: strange, slippery, touching the level of rules themselves. A thin veil interfering with Paths—now hardened into something closer to a cage.
"What do you want to talk about?" Wei Qing asked, face calm.
Inside, he was already measuring the pressure, probing the seams.
"Your choice," Polka said, stepping forward. Her candy-colored skirt didn't flutter at all in the dead air.
"You joined the Stellaron Hunters and began collecting Stellarons… for what reason?"
"Only to fulfill Destruction's mission against Abundance?"
"Or… do you have something bigger in mind?"
Her gaze cut deeper.
"I've observed many geniuses. I've watched countless destinies break and turn."
"But you, Qingzhou—you're the most special case."
"You walk multiple Paths, yet you don't seem fully bound by any of them."
"What are you searching for?"
"Or rather… what are you trying to create?"
Wei Qing fell silent for a moment.
Her question touched something close to the core.
He'd crossed into this universe, stepped onto multiple Paths, and moved forward… and it was never just "because of a mission."
But he wasn't about to lay that bare to an enemy whose intentions were unknown.
"I'm walking my own road," Wei Qing said at last. "Where it leads isn't your business."
"Not my business?" Polka repeated, and for the first time, her tone carried the faintest trace of something like a sigh.
"Because your road may affect many other roads."
"Mine. The Xianzhou's. The balance of the entire universe."
She lifted a hand and pointed toward the Stellaron in Wei Qing's grip.
"This Stellaron should have remained sealed on the Luofu."
"Now it's in your hand."
"Do you understand what that means?"
"It means I got what I wanted," Wei Qing shot back without hesitation.
Polka shook her head.
"It means a variable."
"And variables are often accompanied by chaos… and destruction."
Her voice cooled, turning from research to judgment.
"Qingzhou, I appreciate your rarity. I'm fascinated by your concept."
"But that doesn't mean I'll watch you disturb an established order."
"Order?" Wei Qing laughed softly. "Whose order? The Xianzhou Alliance's? Or Polka Kakamond's?"
"The order of existence," Polka replied, calm as a theorem. "Aeons stand at the apex of Paths. All lesser beings move beneath them. That is the law by which the universe runs."
"Nous has already calculated the future."
"And you…"
Her eyes sharpened again, emptiness turning into a blade.
"What you're doing now is not within that future."
The moment she finished speaking, the "quiet" around them deepened violently.
The veil became a locked prison.
Almost at the same time—Hua moved.
The golden blade in her hand ignited again.
This time, it wasn't pure Hunt alone.
A thread of Polka's stillness—something of the same "quiet" —ran along the blade like a second edge.
Two figures at the top of the universe finally bared their fangs.
Their objective was clear.
Joint suppression.
"So that's it," Wei Qing said, eyes brightening instead of dimming, battle intent burning hotter. "The mask finally comes off."
"Looks like words really were just decoration."
His aura surged, forcing back against the silent shackles pressing down on his Paths.
The Stellaron in his hand seemed to respond to his rising power, its pulse growing sharper, more dangerous.
He looked at them—Hua and Polka.
"Fine."
"If you want to keep me here…"
"Then show me what you've really got."
Wei Qing's voice fell—and the battle erupted again.
But this time, there was no probing, no testing.
This was a true kill-zone.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 150)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter190)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter105)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter225)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 195
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 170
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 225
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 210
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 115
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 130
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 85
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 90
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 100
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 75
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 60
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 71
Checking In in Demon Slayer 75
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 80
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 66
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 58
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 65
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 63
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 59
Why did they assign me to Uma 55
MYGO Beauties 56
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 45
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 49
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 36
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 35
The Uma Musume Who Became 30
I'm Definitely Not the King of 35
After Maxing Out Every Class 35
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