The Vanishing Half-Moon

"Boom!"

As Jupiter tore through the air, transforming into a blazing streak of fire that shot into outer space, a one-eyed man clad in a Battle Suit appeared before him.

"Haha~"

"Let the trial begin!"

The one-eyed alien chuckled, his voice transmitting directly into Jupiter's mind.

"Telepathy or some kind of superpower!"

"Just one more reason for me to smash you to pieces, One-Eyed Alien!"

Jupiter's eyes lit up at the voice in his head, and he promptly flashed a genial smile.

"One-Eyed Alien!? Are you insulting me?"

"Everyone on my planet has only one eye."

The one-eyed alien's face instantly fell at the words. To be called a one-eyed freak by a probationary member—this was an insult to his status as a senior Planet Assessor.

"So your entire planet is full of one-eyed freaks!"

Jupiter said, turning into a bolt of lightning as he instantly appeared before the One-Eyed Alien, thrusting his middle finger straight at the alien's sole eye.

"You bastard!"

"You stabbed my eye!"

The One-Eyed Alien clutched his single large eye in pain.

"This is just the beginning..."

Jupiter looked at the few drops of fresh blood staining his finger and flicked them off lightly. The game had only just begun.

In the moment the One-Eyed Alien's vision blurred as he covered his eye, Jupiter flashed forward and kicked the alien square in the chest.

"Bastard..."

The terrifying force sent the alien hurtling toward the moon behind him at a speed far exceeding sound through air.

"Die, you trash!"

Jupiter pressed his advantage, casually grabbing two United States satellites and hurling them at the One-Eyed Alien sprawled on the lunar surface.

The alien, who had just been trying to stand, was slammed back down by the satellites.

"Shit! You despicable lowlife! You fail! I'll never let you into the Planetary Alliance!"

The One-Eyed Alien glared furiously at Jupiter floating in space, his voice ringing directly in Jupiter's mind, venting his raging mood.

"You think I give a damn about your crappy Alliance!?"

Jupiter picked his ear, then the next second crashed into the One-Eyed Alien like a meteor.

The sheer force of the impact covered the lunar surface beneath Jupiter and the One-Eyed Alien with countless cracks.

"Assessor, you came to the wrong place."

Jupiter gripped the One-Eyed Alien's throat, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.

"I came to the wrong place!?"

The One-Eyed Alien felt the immense pressure on his neck, gritting his teeth as veins bulged in his arms. He strained with all his might to pry Jupiter's hand away, but no matter how hard he tried, it was futile.

"That's right. This is a Virtumian's planet."

Jupiter pressed the One-Eyed Alien's head firmly beneath him, slowly bringing his face close to the alien's large eye, as if wanting him to see his features clearly.

"Fuck! You're a goddamn Virtumian!?"

The One-Eyed Alien finally realized, too late, that the man pinning him down was a Virtumian.

"Bingo~"

"By the way, does your planet have bingo games!?"

Jupiter distracted the alien's attention while his arm tightened further.

"Screw you!"

The One-Eyed Alien was a battle-hardened warrior after all. He clenched his teeth, gathered all his strength into his legs, and kicked Jupiter off him with a powerful thrust.

"I need to get out of here..."

The One-Eyed Alien scrambled up from the lunar surface, ready to fly straight to the Planetary Alliance headquarters to report that Blue Star was a trap—there was no one here seeking to join the Alliance, only an absurdly powerful Virtumian.

"Where do you think you're going!?"

Just as the One-Eyed Alien prepared to leave, he suddenly found his foot grabbed.

"Fuck! You despicable Blue Star Virtumian!"

The One-Eyed Alien spun around, glaring at the man who held his ankle with just one hand, and cursed furiously.

However, before the one-eyed alien could mount any counterattack, his body was hurled onto the lunar surface by an invisible, immense force.

The sheer power seemed to shake the entire moon.

"Idiot, this is Blue Star, not 'Blew Star'..."

"And also, your luck has run out!"

"In your next life, read the name of the planet on the map clearly before deciding your course! You fool!"

Jupiter once again straddled the one-eyed alien, but this time he didn't go for the alien's throat. Instead, he rained punch after punch onto the alien's face.

Each of Jupiter's blows caused massive destruction to the lunar surface, and bright red blood had already stained his gloves...

One punch, two punches, three punches, four punches...

At first, the one-eyed alien still struggled, but as Jupiter's punches grew faster and more powerful, the alien's resistance weakened, until finally he lay motionless on the ground.

Yet even so, Jupiter did not stop his fists. He kept swinging, kept pounding the mass of pulp beneath him.

Jupiter was like someone kneading a lump of crimson dough, hammering the one-eyed alien's body beneath him into countless shreds of paste, pulverizing every bone into powder, beating every organ and cell of that alien to death, defining him as dead from both the microscopic and macroscopic levels—and still he didn't stop, until Jupiter heard the system chime...

"Ding-dong! High-level alien cells detected..."

"Optimize and proceed with fusion!?"

"Haah..."

"Of course!"

Listening to the system prompt echoing in his mind, Jupiter wiped the liquid on his forehead—whether sweat or the enemy's blood—and lay down on his side beside the muddy mess.

"Blue Star is beautiful..."

Jupiter lay on the lunar surface until the system notification, "Fusion complete," rang in his mind, and only then did he stand up.

"I can feel every cell in my body roaring."

Jupiter clenched his fist. He felt himself growing stronger.

Jupiter savored the surging power within his body for a moment, then suddenly seemed to remember something. He turned around to look.

"Crap!"

Jupiter stared at the masterpiece behind him, troubled, and covered his face with his hand.

"I used too much force. Damn it, looks like we won't be able to admire the moon anymore."

Jupiter gazed at the moon before him—now only half remaining—and furrowed his brow. He was pondering how he would explain this magnificent world-famous painting to everyone else.