Chapter 10: Answering the Summons
In the dark and silent universe, a silver-blue psionic light pillar, like a sharp sword, tore through the star river and the gloom. The vast and boundless light stream pierced time and space, reaching behind the void curtain, guiding the existence from the other side to descend.
Now, the ritual was mostly complete. The light pillar, condensed from the psionic energy of all intelligent life on the planet, followed the ceremonial platform of the Holy Mountain and plunged entirely into the void. It caused the space at the end of the light pillar to ripple, forming a twisted eye like a vortex. The spatial-temporal changes generated by this immense power could be clearly observed even from another star system. Correspondingly, whether it was the defensive firepower on the Central Court Star or the fleet of warships in space, they all nervously swiveled their gun barrels, locking onto the Void Portal that was gradually taking shape—even with all the resources of their civilization, they still couldn't guarantee whether the void entity summoned would be a monster or an intelligent lifeform, or whether it would be maddened beyond control.
The vast majority of civilians also held their breath, watching this scene tensely. The Central Court People were an intelligent race purified from psionic plants; their life forms retained some characteristics of plants: extreme longevity. Although the Central Court People reproduced with great difficulty—one Central Court Person needed about eighty years to exchange genetic information and produce a new offspring sprout—their lifespans could be considered virtually endless. A significant portion of the Central Court People currently watching the psionic broadcast had witnessed the Crystal Insects slaughtering the Leaf Court Star. Therefore, they remained neutral regarding the restart of the Void Portal ritual, because fear still lingered in their hearts.
The super lifeform approaching from afar was undoubtedly an imminent destruction and calamity, but who knew if what they summoned this time would be equally terrifying? Although they still firmly believed in the existence of the Void Saint—in fact, it was precisely because of these terrifying and evil void chaos that their faith in the Saint deepened—who knew if the Saint still remembered that, over a thousand years ago, on this obscure star, he had awakened a group of intelligent plants still lost in confusion?
But regardless, as time passed, the twisted eye gradually stabilized. A massive silver-blue crack began to widen, supported by the nearly materialized psionic light pillar. It tore through cosmic space, pierced time and space, and ripped a fissure in the world. The aura from beyond the curtain began to seep out, causing all Central Court People who sensed it to relax inwardly.
"The ritual is a success."
"It doesn't seem like a big problem. As long as we maintain the psionic infusion, even if we can't control it, at least the summoning is fine."
"May the Saint bless us. May your light be like the blazing sun, shining upon us day after day..."
Including the fleet commander and others, almost all Central Court People felt that the most difficult first step—constructing the Void Portal—had been successfully completed. Next would be the simple task of guiding the existence from the other side to descend and using the immense psionic power to control it.
But only Milharbus knew that the problem was huge!
Because he had completely lost control of the ritual!
"A vast will from beyond the void has seized my control! The ritual has gone berserk!"
Standing atop the high mountain, at the very center of the psionic light pillar, the Supreme Executor, tormented unbearably by the endless torrent of psionic energy from the entire planet, was now completely stiff. He felt as if he had become a marionette, manipulated at will by a powerful will from the distant beyond—a will that came from nowhere, devoid of emotion, without hesitation, only a mechanical, icy coldness. It had silently and completely usurped his control, automatically running the subsequent steps of the Void Portal ritual. Milharbus could only sense that, under the control of this vast will, another colossal existence was rapidly approaching from the far end of time and space.
That existence was as scorching as a star, yet not gaseous like a star. It was harder than any mortal steel, while also overflowing with the vitality of life and the power to destroy everything. He came from the distant beyond the void, answering the summons, and was now about to descend here.
The silver-blue crack flickered with an unsteady light. It wavered for a moment, then expanded again. The Void Portal slowly unfolded, now reaching several kilometers in length and hundreds of meters in width. Even a cosmic warship could easily pass through it. Many elderly Central Court People who had witnessed the Void Portal ritual in the past were shocked to find that this Void Portal was larger than the one when the Crystal Insects descended. Did this mean that the entity descending this time was even bigger than the Crystal Insects?!
To put it in perspective, the [Pioneer-class] command ship, hailed as the pinnacle of Central Court technology, was only 2,400 meters long. The Crystal Insects of that year, in their normal state, were a mere 300 meters long. Although the comparison seemed obvious, the former was a war machine requiring tens of thousands of people to operate, while the latter was a single super lifeform—the combat power comparison between the two was completely incalculable by conventional methods.
However, rumors spoke of ancient empires slumbering in the deepest parts of the starry sky, using technology so advanced it was unimaginable to build warships tens of kilometers long, so vast they were beyond conception. A single ship was an ecosystem, capable of suppressing an entire civilization. But those were just rumors. In a thousand years, the Central Court People had only heard a few traces of such things.
—Right now, I can't even forcibly self-destruct the Void Portal... I can only pray that what descends is on the Saint's side, and not one of those strange void behemoths.
Although his heart had turned cold due to various accidents, Milharbus, having lost his self-control, clung to his last shred of hope—that vast will, though cold and emotionless, operated with extreme order, as if it were some kind of mechanical will triggered by certain conditions, with no feelings. This was vastly different from the chaotic, almost incomprehensible thinking of void behemoths. Most importantly, the psionic light pillar of the Void Portal had not gone wrong so far; it was still proceeding in an orderly fashion. Everything was still negotiable.
"It's coming out."
In the bridge of the Central Fleet's flagship, the Pioneer, the tall but weathered fleet commander watched silently as the silver-blue spatial-temporal gate slowly expanded, his mind filled with myriad thoughts.
Taquin had participated in the battle a thousand years ago. Back then, he was just a soldier in the Central Fleet, but he had directly fought against the rampaging Crystal Insects. As the sole survivor of his sub-fleet, Taquin knew what the aura of chaos was like. This time, he was relieved to detect that there was no chaotic aura from the other side of the Void Portal. Instead, there was an unmistakable, blazing heat like a burning sun, a vast life fluctuation that suffocated ordinary life. This made him feel relieved, but also gave rise to new worries:
—Who knows if that vast fluctuation might be a new enemy?
But no matter what he thought, facts did not change according to the will of intelligent life. As the silver-blue spatial-temporal crack stopped expanding and remained fixed in place, the massive psionic light flow lost its transmission point. The surging tide of psionic energy created a huge energy tsunami in the dark cosmic space, spreading towards the surrounding celestial bodies. Just as the aftershocks of the tsunami were still spreading, the Void Portal truly opened.
"Full fleet, highest alert!"
Suddenly, a roar exploded in the bridge of the Pioneer. Taquin opened his three eyes wide and shouted his orders to the surrounding officers with the loudest voice possible. Others were still slow to react, but then, a chilling, stern coldness surged into their hearts. In that instant, endless panic, fear, and cowardice rose from the darkest corners of their minds. A trembling aura spread, dissipating courage and turning passion to nothing. Except for a few Central Court People who were instead stimulated to greater vigor by this aura, the vast majority of the fleet surrounding the Void Portal fell into brief chaos.
It could be seen that around the spatial-temporal crack, a large portion of the psionic tsunami surging towards the surrounding celestial bodies had been corrupted by a strange black-red power seeping out of the Void Portal. An unparalleled pressure, along with a force that terrified all life, spread outward.
Originally, his power would not have been so extreme, especially since he himself was deliberately suppressing it. But the vast, ownerless psionic energy amplified this power a thousandfold, elevating the threat without limit. The next moment, a giant hand, as if cast from molten iron, reached out from the silver-blue Void Portal and pressed into this world.
Compared to the massive planet and the psionic light pillar, this hand was actually very small, even negligible as a tiny dot in cosmic space. But the moment it appeared, it effortlessly seized everyone's attention. Milharbus, Taquin, all the high-ranking Central Court government and priest officials, and all the ordinary Central Court viewers watching the psionic broadcast held their breath, watching this scene. Emotions of shock, fear, anticipation, vigilance, doubt, and disbelief flashed through their minds in succession. Then came another hand, a third, a fourth—
"A void entity is descending! Ship cannons at critical readiness, awaiting firing orders at any moment!"
Accompanied by Taquin's vigilant command, the portal fully opened. And with a surge of immense power that caused the psionic light tide spanning millions of kilometers to change color, the giant god descending from the other side of the void appeared before the Central Court People.
—Whoosh. In the vacuum of space, a gale of energy howled.
It was a four-armed steel giant, over 400 meters tall, wreathed in flames. Behind it was a slowly rotating halo, bisected by a straight line. Energy fluctuations far surpassing warship engine cores swirled around its body. It arrived in this new world, spread its four arms as if stretching, and the flickering silver-blue portal, due to its descent, rapidly closed and disappeared, finally dissolving into an insignificant psionic fluctuation.
"Energy fluctuation: 760 million! Three times that of the Pioneer's main engine! And this is only its normal state energy fluctuation; peak full power is incalculable!"
"Mass fluctuating wildly... Unpredictable! Its mass fluctuates with energy levels; the maximum observed mass fluctuation so far is 9 million tons!"
"It possesses a massive energy fluctuation similar to psionic energy! Its quantity and quality overwhelm Omega-level psionic users by over a hundred times! It is a void super lifeform, impossible to calculate using existing systems!"
"Heavens! It has observation organs—it's looking at us!"
On the Central Court Star and in the space stations, countless researchers conducting real-time observations rapidly reported their findings. They were shocked to discover that this descending four-armed steel giant was even more powerful than the Crystal Insects from last time. And the increase was not marginal; it was a complete and utter overwhelming dominance. This terrifying power was beyond the imagination of the Central Court People, because even the most powerful Omega-level psionic user in their civilization could only barely control the weather and rainfall in a region. If not for gathering the power of all psionic users on the entire planet, they would never have been able to tear through time and space.
And the moment they noticed that the steel giant was also observing them, many researchers looking back at it through various observation lenses suddenly felt their thought cores crash. The overly intense emotional fluctuations overloaded the thought centers of these plant lifeforms, causing them to faint cleanly. Seeming to notice this, the giant giant opened its mouth to speak. But since sound cannot travel in a vacuum, only a series of black-red energy fluctuations could be seen spreading from its mouth, forming energy rings.
The giant noticed this. It stopped speaking and instead used a special silver light to communicate with the psionic light pillar, attempting to interact with the surrounding intelligent beings. Seeing this, many ship captains thought it was a precursor to an attack and were so frightened they nearly ordered a counterstrike. But they were all stopped by the frowning fleet commander. Taquin keenly noticed that the chaos caused by the giant was not intentional; it was merely a natural phenomenon caused by its own overwhelming existence. He had a vague feeling that this entity was an intelligent being capable of communication.
But then, in the dark starry sky, a silver star lit up. A vast stream of light, carrying unparalleled destructive force, surged towards the steel giant. A particle spear, accelerated to near-light speed and carrying heat heated to millions of degrees or more, crossed cosmic space in an instant and arrived before the giant.
Someone, out of fear or other reasons, had fired the ship's cannon.
"Who?!" Taquin immediately roared in anger. This not only defied his orders but also risked provoking this seemingly communicative void entity. At a time when the Central Court civilization was on the verge of destruction, this would be equivalent to completely destroying all future hope for the Central Court People. Not only him, but the command center and the highest government on the Central Court Star were also plunged into anger and panic. They immediately ordered an investigation to find who had issued the firing command. But everyone's attention remained fixed on the other side of the starry sky.
Facing the incoming particle spear, the steel giant seemed to have anticipated it. For this direct hit from a warship's main cannon, capable of piercing an asteroid and vaporizing an entire city, it raised its right hand a second in advance—countless psionic particles gathered at light speed towards its palm, then in an instant condensed into a massive silver light sword. Then, using this one-second window, the giant swung the greatsword and effortlessly cleaved the particle spear.
"Chaos lurks among you."
The silver light, amplified by the psionic light pillar, transmitted into the minds of all Central Court People. The giant did not seem angered by the attack; it only spoke in a calm tone: "I have already eliminated them for you."
And within the distant fleet cluster, inside several warships, dozens of high-ranking officers screamed miserably as they were burned to ashes by a fire that came from nowhere. Their bodies emitted foul, toxic smoke, but it was all eventually consumed by the black-red flames. Not only that, but in each warship, a conveniently unconscious Central Court Person corrupted by chaos was left behind to provide intelligence, rather than being burned to ash.
The next moment, the giant black giant—its golden-red exterior having cooled—turned. Following the guidance of the silver-blue psionic light pillar, it slowly began to descend towards the Central Court Star. Countless anti-air cannons and missile defense networks locked onto this void super lifeform, whose intentions were still unknown. But without orders from the highest level, all controllers, even those sweating coldly, dared not move. They could only tensely watch as the terrifying entity slowly passed through the atmosphere, then gradually compressed and shrank in mid-air, finally transforming into a humanoid form.
"The entity has the ability to self-compress and transform!"
"Energy fluctuation rapidly decreasing! Current amplitude is 230 million, comparable to a warship engine core!"
"Mass is significantly decreasing! Detecting subspace reaction! It has transferred most of its main body to subspace to achieve miniaturization and humanoid form! Current mass fluctuates between 150,000 and 200,000 tons!"
"The entity codenamed Void Giant clearly possesses intelligence! Initiating Plan C!"
Amidst this flurry of information transmission and tense analysis, the giant, now reduced to the size of an ordinary human and carrying a greatsword and a giant axe, was about to land on the summit of the Holy Mountain. It had black hair and eyes like flames. In the eyes of the Supreme Executor, Milharbus, who had just freed himself from the psionic light pillar, this void entity, whose appearance was remarkably similar to the Void Saint from a thousand years ago, landed on the solemn platform. It paused for a moment, then turned to look at him—more precisely, at the water droplet inside the amber pillar in his hand.
"The Saint's aura."
Having confirmed this, the black-haired humanoid approached Milharbus. It reached out a hand and pulled the Supreme Executor, who could not stand due to excessive strain, up from the ground. This instantly caused another explosion of excitement among the researchers in the analysis center. This was a clear sign of intelligence and communicable goodwill. Milharbus could only stand up dazedly with the other's help. But then, he sensed a stream of silver light pouring into his thought center—the seed-shaped 'brain' within a Central Court Person's body, composed of countless nerve ganglia.
"Excuse me, was it you who activated the token left by the Saint and summoned me?" the black-haired humanoid said calmly. Milharbus was shocked to find that he could understand the other's unknown language. He paused for a moment, then slowly said, "...Yes."
"What problem did you encounter that required the use of this ritual?"
The black-haired humanoid was concise. Milharbus, after all, being the highest leader of a planet, quickly recovered and immediately replied: "Void Behemoths! The Forbir people have already fled. We are facing a direct attack from a void entity!"
"I see. A Chaos invasion, is it."
Nodding, the black-haired humanoid smiled. His appearance was very different from the Central Court People, but perhaps due to a shared cultural origin, Milharbus instinctively knew that the other was smiling. He initially wanted to angrily rebuke him, that this was no time for smiling. But at that moment, he vaguely saw the half-body of a giant god flash behind the other's back. In those eyes shimmering with silver light, there was the most intense killing intent and battle spirit.
"Then, let us sign a contract. In the name of the Saint, I will stand with you against Chaos."
The smile quickly disappeared. The black-haired humanoid stood on the solemn platform that felt familiar to him. He reached out his hand and placed it on the amber pillar held by Milharbus. He said calmly, "I am Joshua van Radcliffe, the Chaos Suppressor, answering the summons."
"This power can be used by you."