Volume Six: What She Lost · What I Gained, Chapter 568: Insects and Nuclear Warheads

Somewhere near the racetrack--

"Well, you won't have that chance anyway, because I've decided to use the secret weapon I'm developing to finish you off!"

The only one in Julia's huge box of parts that had never been opened flew to her.

"I'm always thinking, what kind of weapon is the strongest? Of course, by strongest, I don't just mean high destructive power; it must combine strength, aesthetics, and romance, and also carry a devastating sense of oppression! But what is the most suitable? Bullets? Lasers? Explosives? No, no, no, those are all too low-level!!"

This was the first time I'd ever seen her so excited.

"I made a huge discovery while organizing my late father's research notes! All my equipment was previously powered by ultra-concentrated special Spirit Marrow. Although one piece could power many, many people for a very long time, it was still often insufficient! However, my father had almost solved this problem before he passed away!!!"

Then, she took it out—

A very large warhead.

A perfect cone, covered in ominous black paint, with a radially symmetrical pattern that at first glance resembles a clover.

There's only one thing that comes to my mind first.

Nuclear Warhead. "..."

Haha, how could that be? Where would Spirit Star get nuclear weapons? How could a planet with such a skewed technological path create such a serious-looking, inhumane weapon of mass destruction?

... Well...

However, the technological capabilities of Fiaz Julia, father and daughter, are... quite advanced even by the standards of Gundam or Macross, aren't they?

From this perspective, it's more accurate to say...

It would be strange if those two bastards couldn't build a nuclear bomb.

"Mass-Energy Conversion, what beautiful words! What a concise yet majestic formula! It perfectly combines mass and energy! It's such a waste to use ultra-concentrated special Spirit Marrow directly for energy; its value goes far beyond that! The extremely high temperature and sufficiently high collision probability allow it to undergo light nuclear fusion, a super-powerful, super-exhilarating, super-cool, super-awesome chain reaction that can release a massive amount of energy in the blink of an eye! A direct hit would be so exhilarating that you'd feel like your soul was flying to the heavens and you wouldn't be able to stop! I call it—a nuclear bomb!"

The Nuclear Warhead was mounted on a specially designed missile, and a large number of parts were assembled into a small launch pad, naturally aimed at—me.

"Hey, hey, hey... are you serious?"

"Tch tch tch~ I know, I know, this is nothing to you. After all, you're a super strong person who can open up a grand canal that runs across the entire West Saint Continent with a single ultimate move!"

She's referring to my Paradise Lost? Indeed, if the energy isn't released in a predetermined direction and is allowed to explode unchecked, it will create a massive crater on the Spirit Star, equivalent to the combined area of Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Tibet. And that's just the direct damage; not to mention the cataclysmic, landslide-level earthquake (if it exploded on land) and the colossal tsunami powerful enough to engulf the entire North Realm Continent (if it exploded at sea). This is probably the strongest physical attack I've ever seen since arriving in this other world (though it was my own doing). Compared to it, nuclear bombs are utterly insignificant.

But I can't unleash that kind of attack right now! I don't even have the Blood Prison Space yet! At least wait until I'm back to my peak before you go toe-to-toe with me using nuclear missiles! Aaaaaaahh...

"While I don't know if your attack was worth 10,000 tons or 100,000 tons of TNT, it should be able to destroy most of a city this size! Although it sounds a bit hypocritical coming from me, well—civilians aside, do you want to drag your comrades into this?"

"Who cares about those idiots? Launch!"

A missile carrying Nuclear Warhead is launched from the barrel.

It streaked across the sky with a fiery tail and flew toward me at an astonishing speed.

There's no need for precise aiming. The blast radius is so large anyway; I can just detonate it when I'm roughly at the center of the explosion.

I don't really care, but if this explodes, everything will be in chaos! Xiao Wu is still battling the Extra Weapon, Haoyue has been sealed for almost four minutes and still hasn't been found, and Little Ying 'Sick Spider is still nowhere to be found. If they—

Stop her!

Julia must be stopped!

People like her are practically walking natural disasters! They inflict destruction on everyone, friend or foe alike!

"A historic moment has arrived! Detonate—"

"--Don't even think about it!!!!"

At that moment, I finally used that thing.

It's something I received from Neumann, something that has been hidden in my blood ever since.

Blood Fiend's Amulet.

"Give me--block it ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!"

More accurately, it's what's hidden within it.

For the first time, that enormous creature moved.

Although it was I who moved it.

It's not necessary to show the entire Nuclear Warhead; just a very small portion is enough to enclose it.

A huge shadow suddenly appeared above the second floor of the Business Capital.

Since it's impossible to determine what it is at a glance, it's merely enormous; its sheer size prevents it from conveying a sense of imposing reality.

It almost filled all the space from the top of the second floor to the bottom of the first floor, covering almost the entire second floor. It was a grayish-white shell covered with vascular-like protrusions, with layers of fleshy walls of unknown structure. Even the compound eyes arranged on the side of its body were as big as a wall of a building, and any tentacles that stretched out were as thick as the fuselage of a passenger plane.

Although all of this was just a very small part of the huge creature that appeared to be an insect.

However, it's sufficient to withstand Julia's nuclear attack.

The nuclear bomb, completely encased in a massive chunk of flesh, did indeed explode.

However, whether it was high temperature, infrasound, radiation, or electromagnetic pulse, it was all submerged in the flesh. I, who was only separated from the explosion point by a wall (the flesh wall and the shell), hardly heard the explosion. From the outside, the insect's flesh was not damaged at all.

"..." "..."

Julia and I were completely dumbfounded.

Julia aside, even I was shocked. Heaven knows how this insect-like super-creature could have such terrifying physical strength? It was hit by a nuclear bomb from the inside and was completely unharmed? Resisting a nuclear blast is child's play for it!?

"What...?"

A silly electronic voice came over. I looked at Julia and saw her staring blankly at the piece of insect flesh, her pupils contracting and dilating.

"Searching the database... No matching data... Analysis... Analysis failed... What... what is this...?"

... Chance!

I immediately unfurled my Flame Wings and swooped down from the sky! Julia, slowed by system lag, only noticed my actions after two seconds. She roared and deployed her propellers to chase after me—

"Wait a minute..."

Then, I was stopped by a small figure.

In the instant the bat-like membranous wings and mechanical propulsion wings intersected, the two had already exchanged a blow, and the intruder completely blocked Julia's path.

"What are you...?"

I'll return that sentence to you verbatim.

Julia's scarlet eyes seemed to pierce through anyone who stood in her way.

But the arriving Sin Annihilation paid no heed; her hands transformed into enormous saw blades, ready to engage in battle at any moment.

"Thank you, Sin Annihilation!"

I called out to her from a distance, but she just waved her hand, signaling me to hurry up and leave.

Her communication device, a piece of flesh, made sounds in her ears.

"You said you'd save her yourself, so don't go back on your word."

"Oh, don't worry, just focus on holding Julia off. I know how to save Haoyue!"

This isn't me bragging, nor am I saying this to comfort Sin Annihilation.

I've already thought of reinforcements.

I tried to call out softly into the void.

"You're watching, aren't you, Neumann?"

A few seconds later--

"Yes, yes! I'm sorry, although you told me not to get involved, I still can't rest easy—"

"Then help me out without being discovered by the enemy. Finding the compressed space where Casey Yu Xun hiding Valentina shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

Those were truly long and tedious days.

In order to sense the flow of time within this unchanging space, Haoyue used four colored runes to launch four orbs of light —Gold Silver Orange, and black—into the sky, which alternated according to the seasons on the Spirit Star.

Gold represents spring, silver represents summer, orange represents autumn, and black represents winter; this is how the moon calculates the year.

"Ha..."

Haoyue was lying in bed, silently watching the slowly flowing stream.

The bed is made from dissected bones and removed skin; since there are no bacteria in the alternate dimension, there's no need to worry about it rotting.

She quietly observed the monotonous scenery.

The sky was still gray, the earth still white, and the stream still flowed gently.

It has remained unchanged for forty years.

She broke down more than once during that time, but she soon regained herself, and the last embers of hope kept her alive.

How long did this game of playing the role of a corpse last?

Or rather, how many times has this happened?

I spend most of my time sleeping, forcing myself to fall asleep so I don't feel the passage of time.

When I'm really not sleepy, I knock myself unconscious. Only when knocking myself unconscious doesn't work do I start moving around.

Whenever I've gone through all the pastimes I can think of, pondered all the questions I want to think about, and done all the exercises I want to do, and I really have nothing to do, I'll just lie in bed like this, completely still.

This isn't spacing out; if I had to describe it, it's more like resting with your eyes closed while keeping them open.

So tired.

My body is tired, and my mind is tired too.

I haven't eaten for forty years, and I've been relying solely on the warmth and gentle care of the moon to nourish my body every day. My digestive system has deteriorated to the point where it's almost gone.

Despite the month-long period of gentle care, symptoms of malnutrition still appeared over time.

Her skin was no longer the fair and alluring complexion of her youth, but instead had a sickly sallow hue. Her bones began to sag, and the skin on her toes would peel off from time to time. Gray hairs also began to appear in her black hair.

I don't know when it started, but the bright moon no longer uses the stream as a mirror.

At first, she didn't want to see herself become like this, she didn't want to die.

Later, after who knows how many years, she thought, "It doesn't matter if I look, it's all the same now." Then she noticed a sallow-faced, emaciated middle-aged woman staring at her in the stream. It took her a long time to realize that this was herself.

It's truly unbearable to look at.

If she lived a natural life, aged naturally, and took good care of herself, she should have looked like a beautiful and elegant lady who was not yet forty at sixty.

But in this place where there is nothing but drinking water, air, and spiritual energy, it's already quite an achievement that she didn't turn into a dried-up corpse.

"Xiao Ye..."

The lips, wrinkled and creased, moved slightly.

"Sin Annihilation... Si Nan Ying... Givinia... Sick Spider... Little Butterfly..."

Words woven with a voice that was no longer gentle

"... Xiao Wu..."

A long sigh escaped from his aging throat.

"I really miss you all..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I originally wanted to create an illustration for the aging moon... but it was too morbid, so I gave up on that idea.