Chapter 58: Saved the Universe Again Today Relying on My Self-Control
Stelle pressed her face against the observation deck's reinforced glass, her golden eyes wide with unblinking fascination. Outside, the colossal, gunmetal-gray hull of the Hyperion floated in the silent void, eclipsing the stars.
"So," Stelle murmured, her breath fogging the glass. "Is that the weapon you called the 'Planet Buster'?"
"Yep," Rekka replied, leaning back in his chair with a casual stretch.
"Can it actually blow up a planet in one shot?"
"I mean, if you really wanted to crack a planet open like an egg, sure. But generally, we try to avoid doing that when there are still people living on it."
Rekka sighed softly, a dry smile tugging at his lips. Once again, he had saved the universe today—purely by relying on his own impeccable self-control.
He swiped a finger across the holographic terminal floating in front of him.
[Beep... Beep... Beep...]
"Target identified," a cheerful, slightly mechanical voice chimed from the console. It was Ai-chan, the Hyperion's resident AI. "Identification complete. Antimatter Legion signatures confirmed. Initiating annihilation protocol."
March 7th whipped around, her pink hair bouncing as she grabbed Rekka's sleeve and gave it a frantic tug. "Wait, wait, wait! Aren't we going to run a test fire first? You're just going to shoot it at the planet?!"
"Relax, March," Rekka said, gently prying her fingers off his jacket. "The targeting system only flags an entity as an enemy if its energy spectrum perfectly matches the Antimatter Legion. The structural difference between those destruction-crazed monsters and normal organic—or even inorganic—life is astronomical. It won't hit anything else."
Outside the window, the massive silhouette of the Hyperion shuddered. Deep, resonant vibrations bled through the vacuum of space, rattling the Astral Express's floorboards. The main battery array at the dreadnought's bow began to frantically gorge itself on energy. A ghostly, ethereal blue light coalesced at the muzzle, condensing and expanding until the sheer luminosity made the crew's eyes ache.
Then, the ship fired.
A blinding, indescribable beam of blue-white destruction erupted from the Hyperion. It tore through the cosmic dark, a spear of pure annihilation hurtling straight toward the ice-entombed sphere of Jarilo-VI. The spectacle was so terrifyingly absolute that anyone watching would have sworn Rekka fully intended to melt the entire world into a decorative glass marble.
Rekka calmly clasped his hands together in a mock prayer.
"May this journey lead us starward."
Though, when he thought of 'stars', his mind naturally drifted to Paradox Interactive's Stellaris—and the glorious, war-crime-riddled joy of cracking a rival empire's homeworld.
Fortunately, as an upstanding citizen with a functioning moral compass, Rekka kept those dangerous urges strictly confined to his imagination. Zandar One Kuwabara, the founder of the Genius Society, had already set a rather extreme precedent for what happened when a genius went unchecked.
Letting his thoughts wander too far down the path of planetary destruction was a surefire way to attract the attention of Polka Kakamond. Whether or not the infamous Lord of Silence suddenly materialized behind him in a bloodstained dress was actually a fantastic metric for judging the danger level of his current research. After all, when your intellect reached a certain threshold, it was genuinely difficult to tell if a new invention was just a fun toy or a galactic threat.
Down below, the beam struck the atmosphere.
The thick, lead-gray blizzard clouds suffocating Jarilo-VI vaporized in a microsecond. A flawless, perfectly circular hole over a hundred kilometers in diameter was punched straight through the storm. At the edges of the vacuum, the displaced clouds were whipped into violent, spiraling vortexes of frost and kinetic energy, blooming across the stratosphere like a colossal, apocalyptic ice flower.
The beam didn't stop. It pierced the permafrost surface, plunging deep into the crust and churning up a localized storm tide of surging Imaginary energy.
"Scan results confirmed," Ai-chan's voice chimed happily through the terminal. "All Voidrangers in the immediate vicinity of Belobog have been completely eradicated. Elimination rate: one hundred percent. Collateral damage: zero percent."
March 7th stood frozen, her mouth hanging open. She stared at the swirling atmospheric crater on the planet below, completely incapable of forming words.
"That's... it?" she finally squeaked.
"That's it," Rekka nodded, looking thoroughly satisfied. "It was always going to be a quick job. The Antimatter Legion operates on an incredibly high purity of the Destruction Path, which makes their energy signatures stick out like a sore thumb. A weapon like this wouldn't be nearly as efficient against regular enemies. Think of the Legion like a nasty cockroach infestation; if you don't use the heavy-duty insecticide to wipe out the whole nest at once, they just keep crawling out of the woodwork. This was a surgical precision strike. I guarantee it didn't harm a single blade of grass down there. At most, I just treated the locals to a really, really big firework show."
Stelle nodded vigorously beside him. Her golden eyes were practically shining with stars as she threw up two enthusiastic thumbs.
"I think it's super cool!" Stelle declared. "That beam just went whoosh and wiped them all out! It's way more exciting than playing video games. Hey, Rekka, can I be the one to press the big red fire button next time? I want to set off a giant firework too!"
"Sure thing," Rekka chuckled. "I'll let you do the honors next time."
"Even with the surface cleared, we cannot afford to let our guard down."
Himeko's elegant voice broke through the chatter as she walked over to the observation deck, a steaming cup of coffee in hand. She looked down at the planet, her expression serious.
"The Path forward is still blocked. The source of the anomaly... it's a Stellaron." She paused, glancing sideways at the chaotic trailblazer. "Rekka, you don't seem surprised by this at all."
"It lines up perfectly with my preliminary deductions," Rekka said, spreading his hands in a casual shrug. "Nothing too shocking."
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "By the way, can I tag along on this trailblazing expedition?"
"If you are willing to brave the cold, certainly," Himeko smiled warmly, though her gaze swept over him with a hint of motherly concern. "It's just... you look a bit fragile today. The Path you've drawn seems to have left your physical constitution lacking. You should bundle up and wear extra protective gear."
"Oh, no need to worry about that." Rekka waved off the concern. "I already threw together a Constant Temperature Field Generator and a localized stabilizing anchor. My safety is completely guaranteed."
"Alright then. Since you are so thoroughly prepared, what more can I say?" Himeko chuckled, reaching out to give Rekka's shoulder an affectionate pat. "Go ahead and join the others. But remember, no matter how advanced your technology is, you still need to be careful down there."
"Not a problem," Rekka grinned. "Besides, any enemy that manages to get close enough to actually hit me will find themselves forced into a purely physical brawl."
Dan Heng, who had been silently observing the exchange with his arms crossed, finally spoke up. "And what if the enemy's baseline physical stats are already overwhelmingly powerful?"
"I'm carrying a custom Electromagnetic Field Protection array," Rekka explained, digging into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a handful of sleek, silver metallic cubes, displaying them proudly on his palm like a merchant showing off rare gems. "The underlying physics are a bit of a headache to explain, but the practical effect is incredibly simple. As long as the incoming attack relies on pure physical impact, any kinetic force with an instantaneous burst of under ten tons will be completely absorbed and evenly dispersed into the surrounding spatial field."
He tossed one of the cubes into the air and caught it. "If the force exceeds ten tons... well, the field will still block the brunt of it, but some kinetic bleed-through will occur. That might leave me with a few minor bruises."
"Then what if someone just stabs you with a knife?" Dan Heng pressed, his analytical mind searching for the flaw in the defense.
"A knife thrust is still fundamentally a physical impact," Rekka countered smoothly. "The blade will hit the field and stop dead. The only exception is if the concentrated pressure at the absolute microscopic tip of the blade is exceptionally high—high enough to pierce the energy barrier's threshold."
"Oh—" Stelle nodded slowly, her brow furrowed as she tried to process the physics lesson. "So, basically, what you're saying is... it's a really strong shield."
"Exactly."
March 7th leaned in close, her teal eyes narrowing suspiciously at the handful of silver cubes. "Hold on a second. Weren't you locked in your room busy building that giant Planet Buster all morning? When exactly did you find the time to make a bunch of pocket-sized forcefields?"
"I just thought them up while I was assembling the main cannon," Rekka replied, as if he were discussing what he had for breakfast. "That's the beauty of drawing the Path of Erudition for the day. My cognitive processing speed goes through the roof, allowing for seamless multi-threaded parallel processing. I can design a doomsday weapon in my primary thoughts while casually whipping up a few self-defense trinkets in the background. They don't conflict at all."
"Casually whipping them up in the background..." March 7th's mouth twitched. "Your definition of 'casual' is a bit too efficient for my liking."
"Since Rekka is so well-equipped, we can rest easy," Himeko said, her tone softening. "But even with all this high-tech gear, remember our golden rule: safety first. If you encounter a danger you cannot handle, retreat immediately. Do not try to play the hero."
"Understood," Rekka nodded, pocketing the silver cubes.
Dan Heng turned his gaze back to the window, staring silently at the ice-entombed planet below.
Having just witnessed the sheer, unadulterated devastation of a Planet Buster shot, he couldn't shake a strange, lingering sense of familiarity.
'Right,'Dan Heng thought dryly.'This looks exactly like what the Interstellar Peace Corporation does when they decide to forcibly convert someone else's sovereign planet into a strip mine. Except they usually just blow the entire planet to pieces...'
Such were the cynical thoughts of Dan Heng, a man who had once suffered as a corporate slave under the Interstellar Peace Corporation's grinding gears.
After all, in this vast universe, there was no entity big enough to act as a check on the Interstellar Peace Corporation.
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