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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 474
｢Amorph?｣
｢Once regeneration ends, the assault resumes.｣
｢Then how do we defend?｣
Unlike her sister, Isabel could not directly sense psychic assaults. Without knowing their mechanism, they could not prepare a counter.
｢Let’s return home first… and find a way.｣
｢Understood. Preparing transport…｣
PS-111 was about to relocate everyone, and would have if not for suddenly detecting the anomaly.
｢What… is this?｣
｢Sister?｣
A wave that hadn’t existed before now enveloped them. Its scale is vast enough to swallow the scrapyard planet whole.
｢Feels… strange… something… here.｣
Adhai, who too sensed the wave, lifted her gaze.
Where there should have been a ring of scrap metal, there was only blackness. Not plain void darkness writhing, alive.
｢Outspacers…｣
From beyond the orbital ring, a legion of monsters clad in black carapace swarmed toward the scrapyard. The very waves disrupting faster-than-light leaps emanated from them.
｢Too many enemies!｣
Even Isabel ever composed released a field of anxious thoughtwaves. With the All Seeing Eye, she could clearly see: their numbers were near a billion.
｢So many… and we failed to notice them?｣
｢They approached from beyond sensing range. The wave interference hindered detection.｣
｢But how did they find us here?｣
｢They field tracking-specialized organisms. They followed our traces.｣
Such a fleet would not come without purpose and certainly not stealthily. As PS-111 suggested, this was the aftermath of their last battle. The enemy had pursued them.
Then the legion dark as storm clouds blazed with sudden light. Moments later, countless projectiles rained down upon the scrapyard.
Meters-long stakes. Sacks of highly corrosive acid. Thousands poured indiscriminately on some striking Amorph’s fallen body.
｢Big bay! How dare they!｣
Adhai’s gaze flared with violet fire, ready to retaliate. But before she could, another moved first.
Number 26 who had been paralyzed in shock.
Her body, once pale pink, now burned crimson. She surged in size, swelling to nearly 100 meters in an instant. Spreading herself above Amorph, she shielded him. Countless fins and tentacles swept through rubble, seizing debris in every limb.
｢Die!｣
With a pulse as sharp as it was furious, Number 26 hurled the seized wreckage with overwhelming force.
Broken rocket shells, the skeletal frames of ruined spacecraft hurled debris collided against the distant black cloud. Enemy formations wavered, scattering down clusters of small pellet-like creatures.
｢Me too!｣ ｢Revenge!｣
Adhai, clad in her red armor, charged straight toward the Outspacers. Thunder rolled like a storm breaking across the heavens, scarlet lightning tearing through the dark.
Number 26 followed up, hurling more jagged fragments of scrap. Enemies that tried to intercept Adhai were smashed apart by the makeshift projectiles. The two, long accustomed to fighting side by side, moved almost perfectly in tandem.
And yet, Isabel could not hide the unease twisting inside her.
｢To fight here… isn’t good.｣
In terms of raw force, Number 26 and Adhai were overwhelming. But the problem was scale: against hundreds of millions, individual strength meant little.
Worse still, their time was running short. If the Predator’s psychic domination succeeded, then everything was truly finished.
They had to return home as fast as possible to find a way to counter mind control. To tarry here was folly.
｢Sister… can we escape?｣
｢Impossible. Because of the pursuers, evading the legion is not feasible.｣
｢What if I… confirm and kill them myself?｣
｢Too dangerous. Your power is not omnipotent.｣
Her sister was right. The All Seeing Eye only worked when her gaze directly fell upon the target. If they moved faster than sight, or lurked beyond her vision, confirmation was impossible.
And among such a colossal swarm, how many specialized trackers might exist? To seek each one individually was reckless to the point of suicide.
｢Dangerous… but no choice. I must try.｣
She knew very well it was near impossible. Yet no other path remained.
｢Wait just a moment.｣
Isabel steadied herself to fly at the Outspacers, but her elder sister’s voice stopped her.
｢There is one method.｣
｢A method?｣
PS-111 pointed a finger toward Number 26.
｢The ‘Main Controller’ has once before restored a mind.｣
｢Number 26? Oh…｣
At the words, Isabel remembered. When she herself had been reborn as a Screamer, her mind could not awaken. It was Number 26’s power that mended her.
｢High probability Amorph can also be healed.｣
｢Yes… certainly worth the attempt.｣
｢Agreed. Then, we begin at once.｣
From its abdomen, PS-111 produced a dormant mini-screamer and handed it to Isabel.
｢What’s this?｣
｢No time for explanations. Just take it.｣
｢…Understood.｣
｢Main Controller sending you with Amorph now.｣
Number 26, who had just been readying to hurl another dead engine, froze in place.
｢To a place the Main Controller knows. There, heal Amorph.｣
｢Heal? How do I heal Big bay?｣
｢The same way you treated my younger sibling.｣
｢The little one? Oh, I get it!｣
His body shrank quickly, returning to the size of a balloon. A shimmering blue aura wrapped around Amorph and around the pink Sea Demon perched atop him.
｢We entrust this to you.｣
｢Okay! I’ll fix Big baby, all better!｣
Waving her tentacles energetically, Number 26 vanished with Amorph into the dimension beyond space.
｢Time is short. We must move.｣
｢Understood.｣
The Screamer sisters streaked skyward together, closing in rapidly on the legion encircling the scrapyard planet.
At the same time, the swarm detected the flare of faster-than-light. Varied Outspacer forms peeled off into pursuit, descending in a storm.
｢What… do we do next?｣
Isabel asked as enemies closed the gap with terrifying speed. But PS-111 offered no reply.
｢Sister?｣
｢If there are many warp signatures, pursuit becomes difficult.｣
Meeting her sister’s eyes, Isabel realized what the plan was.
｢And strong energy detonations will mask the traces.｣
｢You don’t mean…｣
Of course. With Prometheus’ power, PS-111 would relocate the entire scrapyard’s mass colliding it into itself.
Here, countless unstable faster-than-light engines and dud torpedoes lay abandoned. Detonate them all at once, and the resulting energy release would be catastrophic enough to erase their trail completely, impossible for even the trackers to follow.
｢As long as my sister is here, this attempt is impossible.｣
Even as PS-111 spoke, a haze of blue particles appeared around Isabel.
｢W-wait! If you do that, Sister you’ll die!｣
｢MPS units carry my memory data and genetic samples. So long as those exist, I cannot truly die.｣
Isabel tried to cancel her jump to shield her, but she was too late.
｢Sisters always protect each other.｣
｢No, Sister! Don’t !｣
Those were Isabel’s last words before she vanished, leaving behind only the lingering echo of a cut-off scream.
Her younger twin gone, PS-111 prepared for the final step. She would now attempt to move an immense number of objects all at once. Even with the brain of a Supreme Councillor to augment her, calculating those countless coordinates demanded absolute focus and time.
As she began, monstrous hulks emerged behind her: the Queen’s Guard.
One lashed a sickle-shaped talon across her wing. The strike did not cleave the chitin alloy laced with Vortex One’s carapace but the surface was scored deep.
The guard poised for another blow… when suddenly its body exploded in a spray of gore. The projectile that had pulverized the Outspacer was none other than Adhai.
｢Thank you… little one.｣
｢The youngling’s gone.｣ ｢I sent him away.｣ ｢Are you alright?｣
Adhai’s thoughtwave carried her worry as she tore through enemies at PS-111’s side.
The machine wished to answer as always: that there was no problem. But for the first time, its mind was overwhelmed with irrational surges of thought, impossible to dismiss.
｢…More than that I need your help.｣
For a few breaths she fell silent, before finally sending the thought signal with effort.
｢Help?｣
｢Protect me a short while. That is all I ask.｣
｢No problem.｣
Adhai spread her wings wide, scarlet lightning bursting from every scale. Enemies rushing in front of her were scorched to ash in the storm.
｢Krurrr! Tiny strong one!｣
Through the drifting chunks of flesh appeared a massive beast red and beetle-like, yet larger than any insect should be. Its bulk belied its speed as it slammed violently into Adhai.
｢You cannot escape me!｣
｢False.｣ ｢This is the plan.｣
｢Rrrgh! Then this time, you die!｣
Adhai engaged, locking the crimson beast in combat as countless Outspacers swarmed her. She bought the time PS-111 needed.
The machine’s awareness expanded endlessly, warp particles as her circuit-channel. Twin brains burned at full throttle, mapping the coordinates of every mass in range.
Her physical frame strained toward collapse. Heat boiled from within, skin glowing red-hot. Camera lenses that replaced her eyes cracked; fissures split across her face. It did not matter. All that mattered was completing the calculation before the enemy realized.
At last the final sum was resolved.
｢Little one. It is finished.｣
｢Finished?!｣
｢Yes. Come here.｣
Holding off the horde, Adhai broke away and darted to her.
｢I will send you to where my sister awaits.｣
｢Not… together?｣
｢I still have work left. Take care of my sister, I beg you.｣
｢?｣
With those last words, PS-111 unleashed Prometheus at full capacity.
The void turned to blinding light. Adhai tried to speak again then was swallowed, gone.
｢Little strong one! Running agai...grrk?!｣
The crimson beast, rushing after her, stopped short as light erupted everywhere. Realization struck, and it fled in panic. The lesser Outspacers followed their upper caste in retreat.
But it was too late.
Abandoned engines, failed torpedoes, unstable reactors warped in from across the scrapyard ring all emerged simultaneously, colliding with the debris and planet that had spawned them. Each error in coordinate spawned a chain of impacts and detonations.
Again and again the cycle compounded, the magnitude of the blast swelling beyond measure. When it reached critical mass, the chain no longer needed fuel. A newborn sun ignited.
Radiance and shockwave obliterated the fleeing legion without a trace. Even creatures with armored husks like the crimson beast were hurled away, mortally wounded, into the far galaxy.
PS-111 was not spared. Its frame was torn apart, most of its body lost, slammed into drifting wreckage.
‘It’s finished.’
Prometheus was gone. Even her thoughtwave circuits failed. In moments, every function would cease.
Through its one undamaged right lens, PS-111 gazed at the force that had ended everything.
The scrapyard planet, detonated and reborn, was now a single plasma fusion mass. A radiant star, burning with impossible brilliance.
‘…A light born of garbage?’
For all humanity had cast aside since its first steps into space now become a star. How ironic. If her body were still alive, perhaps she would have laughed.
If only my sister could have seen it too.
That was the Screamer’s final thought.
The inanimate wreck was soon swallowed by the newborn plasma star.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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