Staring blankly at Sandora, who wore an expectant expression, I suddenly understood—despite being known as the "Battle Song Princess," after sixty thousand years of war, she must be exhausted by now.
I pondered briefly before replying, "Of course, I can take you away. But where will you go after that? Pandora should have already told you, the Xyrin Empire…is practically nominal. Whether the territory you once ruled even still exists is questionable."
Without hesitation, Sandora said, "I'll go with you—let's go to that Carbon-based Civilization planet called Earth."
"Eh?" I was dumbstruck.
Sandora wanted to go back to Earth with me? Who wrote this script?! Could it be that after the Pandora Heavy Equipment Corps, another army of extraterrestrial workers was going to swarm into South Mansion Street?
"Sandora, you're not joking, right? So many of you…" I tried to dissuade Sandora. One Pandora Heavy Equipment Corps had already refreshed a third of the faces around me; if another Sandora Corps arrived, I might as well forget about seeing Earthlings ever again. Although Sandora's army, like the other corps of the Empire, primarily consisted of non-sentient units that could be recycled into Other Space, even if they were all retracted, the remaining commanders were no small number. So many people all at once on Earth buying pirated discs… Ahem, it seemed that Sicaro had made me a bit neurotic…
"Are you worried about my identity as Xyrin Emperor? Don't worry, I'm just temporarily staying with you; I won't interfere with your sovereignty—I can swear on the name of the Empire!"
…I wasn't worried about that at all. I was worried that if another batch of bootleggers like those from Sicaro appeared, the first interstellar war might break out between the Imperial Army and city management.
But looking at Sandora's pitiful expression, I couldn't bear to refuse her outright—she had nowhere else to go.
By the way, was this really how the Supreme Leader of the Empire behaved? Had Sandora perhaps gone a bit insane after sixty thousand years of war?
Ultimately, I softened: "Alright, you can come with me, but you have to agree to my conditions."
"Yay—" Sandora cheered, then stood up, took two steps back, and happily lunged at me…
"Crack—" A crisp sound, followed by an "Ah—" in pain.
Broken, it was broken again…
************************************************************************* Recuperating Again *************************************************************************
It seemed Sandora was telling the truth about enhancing my body, as my recovery ability had indeed improved a lot…
Today marked our third day in this world ruled by Magical Beasts. In Sandora's base, I gained a more detailed understanding of their experiences.
It turned out that about sixty thousand years ago, when Sandora victoriously returned from the Helenda Star System, she accidentally discovered this planet. Sandora intended to spend a few days here, so she led her Personal Guard away from the main force and came here. Unluckily, the day after they landed on this planet, their communication with the outside world was cut off (the Empire as a whole had fallen asleep). Moreover, all the equipment they brought malfunctioned mysteriously. They couldn't leave and their combat capabilities were severely impaired, resulting in a grueling sixty thousand-year struggle against the local Magical Beasts. Although most of these Beasts were not as individually powerful as the Xyrin Empire's soldiers, their numbers were vast and they reproduced rapidly. What baffled Sandora and her commanders was that these Beasts seemed unending; no one knew where they came from, only that every so often massive hordes of frenzied Beasts would attack from all directions, leaving countless corpses before collectively retreating. Sandora and her forces, having brought only a portion of their military strength, struggled just to achieve a stalemate with these Beasts, let alone divert forces to investigate their source. Over these sixty thousand years, their sole understanding of these enemies was that they seemed to be affected by a force known as the "Abyss," causing their frenzy.
"The Abyss is the most dangerous thing in the universe," Sandora said with a particularly grave expression. "It's not an ordinary form of energy or matter, but rather a strong will, filled purely with a desire for destruction and annihilation. This force wanders through the universe, and whenever it stops, this will begins to affect the surrounding entities. Whether it's Carbon-based Life, Silicon-based Life, or Energy Life, even our half-energy half-constructed bodies, are not immune. What's more, it can affect even non-sentient objects—when the Abyss arrives, planets deviate from their orbits, stars burn wildly, gravity becomes erratic, constants go haywire, leading everything to destruction… In essence, the Abyss is destruction itself."
When I asked Pandora about the Abyss, the little one's face also grew serious. She said, "Although the data I can access is incomplete, I can confirm that the force Emperor Sandora mentioned does indeed exist. According to the information I have, the Abyss has always been the Empire's foremost enemy."
…I never imagined the Xyrin Empire had such a glorious history of maintaining universal peace.
"Fortunately," Sandora said, standing on a cliff near the base and gazing at the smoky mountains in the distance, "it's finally over, and we can leave this cursed place."
"It's hard to believe you managed to hold out for so long," I exclaimed sincerely. "If it were me, I'd have gone mad long ago."
"I have gone mad," Sandora turned and flashed me a radiant smile, her flamboyant curls casting a golden halo. "You know? As the spiritual pillar of these warriors, the pressure I endured was greater than anyone else's. Even the spiritual power of the Xyrin Emperor can't stay clear-headed for long under such circumstances. So, after fifty thousand years of war, I had a mental breakdown and even considered causing the entire army to self-destruct along with the planet…"
I stared at Sandora in horror; her warm smile and nonchalant gaze betrayed no hint of jest.
"Luckily, at the last moment, I regained a brief clarity," Sandora said with a warm, happy smile. "I thought if I continued living, I might bring great disaster to my warriors—they were too obedient to my commands. Even if the mad me ordered them to commit mass suicide, they would do it without question. So, I decided to end myself.
"I entered the Abyss…"
"The Abyss?" I grew more and more astonished. "You mean that force causing trouble all over the universe?"
Hearing my words, Sandora chuckled lightly. "Haha, calling such a frightful thing an irritating force is quite amusing… You're right, that's what it is. Although the Abyss is usually an invisible and intangible force, it can also have its own nest when its power manifests. Using my special abilities as a Xyrin Emperor, I found a manifested Abyss entrance and plunged in alone…even in death, I wanted to give it a taste.
"Inside the Abyss, I saw many things you wouldn't see in your lifetime and encountered unimaginably evil powers. I didn't know how many enemies I killed or when I might exhaust my strength and die. I just fought day after day.
"I thought my already tottering spiritual power would soon collapse completely under the Abyss' influence, turning me into a mindless war beast or leaving me torn apart by Abyssal enemies. But guess what happened next?"
I swallowed nervously and stared at the smiling Sandora. Her previously reckless demeanor and now incessant chattering made me feel increasingly uneasy. This Xyrin Emperor's mental state seemed seriously unstable—perhaps her last shred of sanity was obliterated in the Abyss? Could she actually be a puppet controlled by the Abyss? Or simply a seemingly normal madwoman?
I didn't reply immediately, and Sandora, unperturbed by my silence, continued: "Later…I was indeed consumed by the Abyss…"
With these words, Sandora suddenly gave me a faint smile, then slowly raised her right hand. Instantly, a black, flame-like tangible energy spread from her fingertips, swiftly enveloping her entire right side. Within seconds, Sandora's entire right side transformed into black flames, burning furiously, obscuring any human form, while her raised right hand turned into a terrifying claw, wrapped in black smoke and about half a meter long…
*************************************************************************
Long-Missed Star Line
*************************************************************************
Seeking Recommendations, Seeking Favorites!!!
The abnormal changes in front of me left me at a loss for words.
Sandora, who had been corrupted by the Abyss Power, was now levitating in mid-air, looking down at me. Black energy flames continuously surged outward, as if trying desperately to break free from some kind of restraint. Even someone as insensitive as I was to various energies could feel a kind of mad and violent will from these flames. But in stark contrast to all this, Sandora still maintained a warm and happy smile, as if completely unaware of the drastic changes taking place in her body.
Nobody could have imagined that Sandora, who had led the warriors in fighting against the Abyss Power for so many years, had long been corrupted by the Abyss and become one of them.
I tried to contact Pandora, and as expected, all my connections to the outside world were cut off.
It seemed today was going to be my end. Facing a Xyrin Emperor corrupted by the Abyss Power with only my basics of remote Xyrin attacks, even the most blood-pumping novels wouldn't dare to defy the odds in this scenario. What a pity this book ends here...
For some reason, my heart was instead calm at this moment. Was it that I had already mentally prepared myself for this before?
Qianqian, Sis, and Pandora, I am sorry, it seems I have to say goodbye to you all...
"Hey! Wake up! Why are you spacing out?"
Just as I was bidding my farewells to my loved ones in my heart, a voice, low and echoing yet familiar, suddenly sounded. I snapped back to reality, seeing Sandora, still in her blackened state, carefully pinching my collar with her huge transformed black claw, shaking me. The flames of the Abyss Power were almost burning my face.
"Ah—finally, you noticed me," Sandora happily said as I came to. "You are really something. You can ignore me even when I look so imposing, and still space out."
...I was scared out of my wits, OK!
Wait a minute; this situation seems a bit off, doesn't it?
I carefully observed Sandora's expression; there was no sign of her intending to harm me. If I ignored her terrifying right half, the current Sandora looked like a child proudly showing off a new toy...
The corner of my mouth twitched. All this time, was Sandora just trying to show off her Abyss Form to me? She treated this Abyssalization as her new toy?
"Isn't it interesting?" Sandora raised her claw (囧). "Even though I was corrupted by the Abyss, and even became half an Abyss Creature, I didn't lose my mind. Instead, I gained a new life. Can you help me research what's going on?"
Research... What I want to study the most right now is what on earth is going through your mind! Are you really the Xyrin Emperor? Should such a personality appear in someone full of imperial demeanor and queenly attributes like you? If you were a Little Loli like Pandora, I might be barely able to accept it...
"Sandora," I cautiously avoided her "claw," "you didn't bring me here just to tell me all this, did you?"
"That's exactly right," Sandora said nonchalantly, "only you can communicate with me here, right?"
"Huh?!" I was baffled by Sandora's words, "There are so many people here, why can only I communicate with you?"
Sandora gave me a strange look and said, "Their access level isn't enough. Only you and I are Xyrin Emperors here, so only you can communicate with me. The relationship between low-access and high-access is command issuance and reception; that's not called communication... Oh, right, to put it in simpler terms, it's complete information sharing."
It finally dawned on me why Sandora seemed so bizarre to me, completely unfit for the identity of a Xyrin Emperor.
The hierarchical privilege system of the Xyrin Empire was far stricter than I had imagined. Although their bonds were as close as family, their sense of hierarchy was so strong that in Sandora's eyes, those with lower privileges weren't even considered the same species for equal communication. Here, "communication" was more like information sharing. Obviously, a high-privilege entity couldn't possibly disclose all its information to a low-privilege one. Thus, in front of others, Sandora was the majestic and strategic Xyrin Empress. But in front of someone with the same privilege as I, she turned into a mischievous and adorable girl-next-door...
Understanding this, I realized that earlier was nothing but a false alarm. Sandora showing me her Abyss Form was merely an information-sharing activity between Xyrin Emperors. In Earth's terms, it was showing off a new toy...
"Who knows what's going on with you." How could I know the reason for Sandora's current state? So far, my understanding of the Abyss had only paused at the level of a fantasy story. I just knew there was such a dangerous thing in the Universe. How could I possibly analyze anything for Sandora?
Hearing my answer, Sandora nodded, somewhat disappointed, and said, "I see, lacking essential information, you can't analyze it either."
In fact, even with enough information, I couldn't analyze anything...
At this moment, an idea struck me, and I asked, "Sandora, have any of your soldiers ever gone missing?"
"Missing soldiers?" Sandora tilted her head, "All members of the Xyrin Legion are under my psychic connection control. Theoretically, there shouldn't be any missing soldiers... Oh, right, there was one!"
"Are you sure? How many years ago was this?"
"One thousand two hundred and thirty-five years ago, a Heavy Striker Mecha was damaged by a Dragon Clan member who used Space Magic, and the pilot was missing. How did you know we had missing soldiers?"
"Actually..." I then recounted the story about the ruins to Sandora, especially emphasizing the Spirit Beacon that brought us to this world.
"A Spirit Beacon and a tomb site with a Xyrin Defense System..." Sandora pondered, "It seems our missing soldier arrived in your world through space-time chaos. Due to the damage to the Spirit Beacon, he couldn't return smoothly, but he must have set the return coordinates to this world. So, when Pandora's Spirit Beacon resonated with the warrior's Spirit Beacon, you were teleported to this world. Apparently, that warrior did a great job. Once we're back in your world, I'll visit the ruins first... Wait, Chen Jun, Earth should be ruled by Carbon-based life, right?"
I nodded and said, "Of course."
"Their individual strength shouldn't be anything to boast about, right? At least from earlier, I could severely injure you with just a hit, indicating your species is quite fragile physically."
I replied awkwardly, "Human physical fitness indeed isn't great. Even on Earth, humans are quite a fragile species. But by mastering technology, we stand at the top of Earth's species."
"So, could humans from one thousand two hundred and thirty-five years ago possibly kill a Xyrin Warrior?" Sandora suddenly asked.
"Impossible!" I answered without hesitation. Even with today's human technology, killing a Xyrin Warrior would require a medium-sized regular army at least. As for a Xyrin Commander or an Angel Envoy like Pandora, no human army could possibly deal with them.
"So how did the Xyrin soldier who arrived on Earth by accident die?"
Sandora's words immediately reminded me. Yes, as a semi-energy, semi-material lifeform, an Angel Envoy's lifespan was almost infinite. Plus, their individual strength made them practically invincible a thousand years ago on Earth. That tomb we saw had to have had problems.
Just then, I saw a pillar of aurora-like light rising from the distant base: the Legion Transporter was ready.
"Let's put this issue aside for now," I waved my hand and said, "Let's leave this damned place first."
Sandora nodded and said, "It's also time to say goodbye to this place. As agreed, you go back first, and I'll join you in a few days."
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