Stellaron Hunter Kafka? Sorry, the Divine Court Isn't Seeing Visitors!

The heavy airtight door slid open.

A hydraulic valve gave a short hiss.

A booted foot stepped into the VIP Lounge.

Kafka hooked a finger through the trigger guard of her compact submachine gun.

The black weapon spun around her finger in a blur.

Click.

The grip landed neatly in her palm.

A short girl chewing bubble gum followed her in.

Silver Wolf kept her head down.

Her thumbs hammered at a handheld game console.

Another gust of cold air swept in through the doorway.

Himeko didn't hesitate. She drew her portable cutting gun.

Its muzzle lit up red.

Welt gripped his cane with both hands and planted it hard on the floor.

The carpet sank sharply around him.

A high-density gravity field crushed the air with a series of tiny cracks.

Stellaron Hunters.

The most wanted criminals in the universe.

Kafka ignored the gun aimed at her.

She didn't even glance at Welt.

Her dark violet eyes pierced the gravity field and fixed on the woman sitting at the edge of the sofa.

"Everyone from the Express, don't be so tense."

Kafka took two steps forward across the carpet.

"Elio's script doesn't call for a fight with you today."

She stopped three paces from the coffee table.

Her gaze traveled over Su Chen.

The dark gold robe, the waist-length amber hair.

And the oppressive weight of the presence surrounding her.

Su Chen sat there.

The Geo shell around his right calf was too tight, cutting off his circulation.

His whole leg had gone numb.

He was a pretty wooden statue sitting upright on the sofa. Even if he wanted to run, his legs wouldn't carry him.

Worse, he knew the two women in front of him.

These lunatics would even blow up the Interastral Peace Corporation.

Why did everyone have to crowd into this VIP Lounge?

Su Chen's heart pounded.

But not even his eyelashes twitched.

The Female Lord's golden eyes rested on a speck of dust in the air, as though the newcomers were nothing but empty space.

More cold sweat beaded on Welt's forehead.

He wasn't afraid of Kafka.

He was afraid Kafka would recklessly provoke the Divine Court's Fourth Seat.

If the Fourth Seat found them noisy and dropped a meteor on the space station, they would all end up as space junk.

"I haven't seen you before, my lady."

Kafka put a hand on her hip.

The barrel of her submachine gun pushed aside the violet-red hair by her ear.

"That meteor that pinned the Doomsday Beast outside made quite a commotion."

She pressed one step closer.

"Elio said an unpredictable variable had appeared on the space station."

"Looks like that's you."

Su Chen ignored her.

He didn't dare open his mouth.

He was afraid the tremor from his numb leg would come through in his voice.

The Female Lord merely raised her right hand and picked up the chipped white porcelain teacup again.

That dismissal made Kafka arch an eyebrow.

As a Stellaron Hunter, she was used to people bracing themselves against her.

The woman's aura was terrifying.

But a hunter's instincts made Kafka want to prod this unknown variable.

Kafka returned the submachine gun to the holster on her thigh.

She straightened.

The air around them suddenly turned thick as syrup.

Welt's heart sank.

"Kafka! Stop!"

Welt tried to activate the Star of Eden, only to find his movements slowing.

Kafka's voice changed.

An irresistible psychic pull slipped into her languid tone.

Like an invisible net, it descended straight toward Su Chen on the sofa.

"Listen to me..."

The three words left her lips.

The flames in the VIP Lounge's virtual fireplace leaped higher.

Spirit Whisper.

The Stellaron Hunters' most terrifying method of mind control.

A hum filled Su Chen's head.

The voice slipped through his ears, something slick trying to pry open his mind.

He even felt an urge to stand up and answer her.

But the urge lasted only half a second.

Su Chen didn't need to do anything himself.

Or rather, the Female Lord's god-tier Avatar had a passive defense mechanism that reacted entirely on instinct.

The teacup was still poised at the Female Lord's lips.

She didn't even turn her head.

The Jade Shield erupted without warning.

It wasn't the thin, translucent barrier from before.

Blinding golden light, almost solid, exploded outward from the sofa.

It carried the majesty of the ancient earth.

It was a divinity that allowed no evil thing to pry into it.

Crack.

Something seemed to shatter in the air.

The psychic net Kafka had woven struck the golden light as if it had slammed into a granite mountain weighing millions of tons.

It broke apart instantly.

"A contract has been made. Those who break their word shall suffer the wrath of stone!"

A cold female voice, devoid of human feeling, thundered through the room.

That wasn't something Su Chen had said.

The declaration had come from the divine power itself.

The voice struck the Mental Sea of everyone present.

The cutting gun in Himeko's hand fell to the floor.

Welt clutched his chest and stepped back.

Kafka took the full force of it.

It was as though an invisible Siege Hammer had struck her square in the head.

"Urgh!"

Kafka let out a muffled groan.

Her face went deathly pale.

Her body snapped backward, her heels carving two long furrows through the carpet.

She staggered all the way to the doorway, where her back slammed into the metal door.

A thread of dark red blood ran from the corner of Kafka's mouth.

It dripped onto her white silk blouse.

The red stood out sharply.

``` [Ding!]

[Extreme shock detected from Kafka. Shock Points +4,500!]

[Fear detected from Welt Yang. Shock Points +1,500!]

[Awe detected from Himeko. Shock Points +1,000!]

Su Chen watched the numbers soar on the system panel, thrilled.

He slowly swallowed the cold tea in his mouth.

Then he set the cup back down.

His leg didn't even feel quite so numb anymore.

Only then did the Female Lord turn her head.

She glanced sidelong at the woman leaning against the door and struggling to breathe.

Cold sweat had soaked Welt's back.

An instant defeat.

An overwhelming force on the level of concepts themselves.

Kafka's Spirit Whisper was infamous throughout the universe.

Even an Emanator could be briefly disoriented if she used it at close range.

Yet the Fourth Seat hadn't moved a muscle.

The backlash from her shield alone had shattered Kafka's mind.

The wariness in Welt's eyes as he looked at Su Chen had turned to outright reverence.

The Imaginary Divine Court.

If even one of its peripheral errand-runners was untouchable, this organization had to be the greatest taboo in the universe.

Kafka gulped down air.

She raised the back of her hand and wiped the blood from her mouth.

Every trace of playfulness had vanished from her violet eyes.

Only disbelief remained.

"You..."

She tried to speak, but all that came from her throat was a faint rasp.

That instant counterattack had left her psychic power in shambles.

Silver Wolf, who had stayed behind her, finally stopped pressing the buttons on her console.

She looked up.

She stared for two seconds at Kafka, who was leaning against the doorframe and coughing up blood.

Pop.

Silver Wolf bit through the half-chewed bubble gum in her mouth.

The genius hacker's temper flared at once.

"Kafka!"

Silver Wolf shoved her game console into her pocket.

She took a long step forward and put herself between Kafka and Su Chen.

Her gray eyes locked onto Su Chen on the sofa.

She blew a fresh pink bubble until it burst.

Pop.

The sound of snapping gum rang through the quiet VIP Lounge.

"Strong psychic defenses, huh?"

Silver Wolf gritted her teeth and slashed a finger through the air.

"Let me see what secrets that lousy Divine Court database of yours is hiding!"

Blue streams of data gathered wildly around her.

A huge Holographic Keyboard appeared in midair.