Close Call

The sudden change before my eyes left me at a loss for a moment.

Sandora, corrupted by Abyssal power, had risen into the air and looked down at me from above. Black flames of energy continuously surged from her body, as though struggling to break free of some restraint. Even someone as insensitive to all kinds of energy as I was could sense a mad, violent will within those flames. Yet in stark contrast to all this, Sandora still wore a warm, cheerful smile, as if she had no idea about the enormous changes happening to her body.

No one would have imagined that Sandora, who had led her warriors against the Abyssal power for so many years, had actually long since been corrupted by the Abyss and become one of them.

I tried to contact Pandora, but as expected, every connection between me and the outside world had been cut off.

Looks like this was where I would meet my end. An Earthling capable of only the most basic Shilin long-range attacks against a Shilin Emperor corrupted by Abyssal power—no matter how hot-blooded a novel was, it probably wouldn't dare pull off a reversal in a plot like this. What a shame. This book was ending just like that...

For some reason, my heart was instead completely calm. Had I already made some kind of mental preparation beforehand?

Qian Qian, Older Sister, and Pandora... I'm sorry. It looked like I had no choice but to say goodbye to you.

"Hey! Wake up! Why are you spacing out?"

Just as I was saying farewell to my friends and family one by one in my heart, a familiar voice with a deep echo suddenly rang out. I snapped back to my senses and saw Sandora, still in her darkened state, carefully pinching my collar with her enormous mutated black claw and shaking me back and forth. The flames of Abyssal power were practically scorching my face.

"Whew—you finally noticed me," Sandora said happily when she saw me come to. "You're pretty impressive too. You could ignore me even when I look this imposing, and you still dared to space out."

...I was scared stiff, okay?!

Wait, something about this situation seemed off, didn't it?

I carefully studied Sandora's expression and found no sign that she intended to hurt me. If I ignored the terrifying form covering the right half of her body, she looked exactly like a child showing off a new toy...

I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. After all that, Sandora had only wanted to show off her Abyssal Form to me? She regarded this Abyssalization as a new toy?

"Isn't it interesting?" Sandora raised her claw. "Although I was corrupted by the Abyss and even became half an Abyssal creature, not only did I not lose my mind, I was reborn instead. Could you help me study what's going on?"

Study it... What I most wanted to study right now was what exactly was going through that head of yours! Were you really a Shilin Emperor? Should someone with your mature-woman aura and Queen status really have a personality like this? If you were a little Loli like Pandora, I could barely accept it...

"Sandora," I said, carefully dodging her "claw," "you didn't deliberately send everyone else away and bring me here just to tell me this, did you?"

"That's exactly why," Sandora replied as though it were only natural. "You're the only one here who can communicate with me, aren't you?"

"Huh?!" Sandora's words left me baffled. "There are so many people here. How could only you and I communicate?"

Sandora gave me a strange look. "Their permissions aren't high enough. Only you and I are Shilin Emperors, so only you can communicate with me. The relationship between lower and higher permissions is one of issuing and receiving commands—that isn't communication... Ah, right. To put it in a way you can understand, it means complete information sharing."

At last, I understood why Sandora seemed so strange to me, so completely unlike a Shilin Emperor.

Their hierarchical permission system was far stricter than I had imagined. Although their bonds were as close as those of a family, their awareness of rank was just as intense. To Sandora, individuals with lower permissions were practically another species that could not communicate with her as equals. Of course, "communication" here was not the same concept as ordinary conversation; it was more accurately described as the sharing of information. Clearly, a high-permission individual could not reveal all of her information to someone with lower permissions. That was why Sandora appeared before everyone else as a lofty, capable Shilin Empress, but in front of me, who possessed the same permissions, she became a mischievous, adorable, and seriously airheaded girl next door...

Once I understood that, everything became clear. So the whole thing had just been a false alarm. Sandora showing me her Abyssal Form was merely information sharing between Shilin Emperors. Well, in the common terms of Earthlings, she was showing off a new toy...

"Who knows what happened to you?" How could I possibly know how Sandora had ended up in this state? So far, my understanding of the Abyss was still no more than that of a fantasy story. I only knew that such a dangerous thing existed in the universe. What could I possibly analyze for Sandora?

Hearing my answer, Sandora nodded somewhat dejectedly. "I see. Without the necessary information, you can't analyze anything either."

Actually, even if I had enough information, I still wouldn't be able to analyze anything...

Then I suddenly remembered something and asked, "Sandora, have any of your soldiers ever gone missing or something?"

"Missing soldiers?" Sandora tilted her head. "Every member of the Shilin Legion is connected to my psychic control. In theory, there should be no situation where a soldier's whereabouts are unknown... Ah, right. There was one!"

"You're sure? About how many years ago was it?"

"One thousand two hundred and thirty-five years ago, a Heavy Assault Striker Armor was damaged by a dragon that used spatial magic, and the pilot inside went missing. How did you know we had a missing soldier?"

"Actually..." I immediately told Sandora about the ruins, placing particular emphasis on the Null Beacon that had brought us to this world.

"A Null Beacon, and a grave site equipped with a Shilin defense system..." Sandora pondered. "It seems that our missing soldier arrived in your world due to the turbulence of space-time. Because the Null Beacon was damaged, he could not return smoothly. But he must have set the beacon's return coordinates to this world, which was why, when Pandora's Null Beacon resonated with that warrior's Null Beacon, you were sent here—if so, that warrior truly rendered great service. Once we reach your world, I'll first visit those ruins... Wait, Chen Jun, Earth should be ruled by Carbon-Based Lifeforms, right?"

I nodded. "Of course."

"The strength of their individuals shouldn't be very high, right? At the very least, I could tell from how I seriously injured you by crashing into you earlier. Your race is quite fragile."

I answered somewhat awkwardly, "Human physical capabilities really aren't much. Even on Earth, humans are a fairly fragile species. But because we mastered technology, we still rose to the top of Earth's species."

"Then could humans from one thousand two hundred and thirty-five years ago have possibly killed a Shilin Warrior?" Sandora suddenly asked.

"Impossible!" I answered without hesitation. Not to mention over thirteen hundred years ago—even with present-day human technology, killing a Shilin Warrior would require at least a medium-sized regular military force. As for Shilin Apostles on the level of a Shilin Commander or Pandora, no human army could possibly deal with them.

"Then how did that Shilin soldier who accidentally arrived on Earth die?"

Sandora's words immediately reminded me. That was right. As half-energy, half-material lifeforms, Shilin Apostles had nearly limitless lifespans. Furthermore, on Earth over a thousand years ago, their individual strength would have made them invincible beings like gods. That meant there was something seriously wrong with the grave we had found.

Just then, I saw an aurora-like pillar of light rise from the base in the distance: the Legion Teleporter was ready.

"Let's put that question aside for now," I said with a wave of my hand. "We should get out of this lousy place first."

Sandora nodded. "It's time to say goodbye to this place too. As agreed, you'll go back first. In a few days, I'll come meet up with you."