"Overclocking"

Strangely, although Dania was gone, there was not a trace of grief or regret on Lu Guan's face, only a deathly stillness and indifference.

Faced with such a parting of life and death, he felt not even the slightest bit of anger.

All he felt was an overwhelming desire to kill the Fractsidus and Aleph-1!

He looked down at the Tac Tacet Mark on his right hand and suddenly smiled.

"This is the first time... your existence has made me feel powerless."

"Useless thing... then burn yourself out! This is the last value you can offer me..."

As he spoke, the Tac Tacet Mark on his palm flared to life and opened like the gaping maw of an abyss. Countless unknown inscriptions poured out and crawled across Lu Guan's body.

"Overclocking."

His hair turned a deathly white, and his robes billowed without wind. He raised his head and shouted at the sky.

"I want... to speak with Aleph-1!"

The moment he said it, the scene around him abruptly changed, replaced by a space formed of Void Matter.

And before him was a massive blue-and-yellow eye.

The "Tacet Discord of Nihility," Aleph-1!

But Aleph-1 had no interest in Lu Guan at the moment. Its gaze had never even fallen on the ant that had suddenly appeared.

Or perhaps it had seen him long ago, but didn't care.

"Am I being ignored?"

"Fine. That gives me time to prepare." Lu Guan took just 0.01 seconds to accept that the giant eye was ignoring him and opened the system interface.

[Beep! Rewards have been issued]

[World Origin Fragment placed in system inventory]

[Dania's Resonance Ability acquired]

[Tacet Discord of Nihility's gaze has taken effect]

Aleph-1 abruptly turned toward Lu Guan, its enormous eye snapping open. Though it was a Threnodian bearing the name "Nihility," Lu Guan could read puzzlement in its gaze.

It was as if it were asking: Why have you appeared here?

But it soon abandoned that meaningless thought and chose a more convenient way to solve the problem.

Void Matter churned, and under the Threnodian's influence, a figure somewhere between illusion and reality appeared before Lu Guan.

A creation of the Mech Abomination Aleph-1.

Unlike the enormous false god that had faced the Tunneler piloted by Rover and Augusta in the game's original story, the Threnodian creation Lu Guan faced had the form of an ordinary girl.

And as the figure gradually came into focus, Lu Guan's killing intent reached its peak...

Because Aleph-1's creation had taken Dania's form!

No... perhaps it was more than just her form...

"Dania's" lips moved, and she spoke!

"Nothing has any meaning... please... go back..."

The veins on the back of Lu Guan's hand bulged. As far as he could sense, the frequency of the Threnodian creation before him was identical to Dania's.

"Your figure, your appearance, your frequency, even the way you speak... everything about you feels like her..."

"But my soul tells me otherwise!"

"Aleph-1! What did you do to Dania?"

It gave no answer. Perhaps the giant hand of Void Matter that "Dania" raised her arm to unleash was its answer.

Seeing that he couldn't negotiate with "Dania," Lu Guan knew this was no time for hesitation. The burden of Overclocking was growing, and he had to act as soon as possible.

If he delayed any longer, heaven knew whether the real Dania's condition would worsen again!

So, after dodging the giant Void Matter hand's strike, he soared upward, putting distance between himself and "Dania."

Lu Guan began to chant:

"Neither copper, iron, nor steel, once hidden beneath Mount Sumeru!"

"Forged without reversing yin and yang, yet quenched in water and fire to hone their edge!"

"Immortal-Slaying cuts, Immortal-Butchering kills, Immortal-Trapping raises red light on every side!"

"Immortal-Ending's transformations are boundlessly wondrous! Even a Daluo Immortal's robes will be stained with blood!"

Then he pressed his palms together. "Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation! Rise!"

Under normal circumstances, Lu Guan had no ability to summon the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation. Even with the right atmosphere, his own Echo energy was nowhere near enough to summon something so far beyond the norm, not even for an instant.

Even while Overclocking, the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation he summoned by burning through all his strength could only last a short while, and its power was nothing compared to the one in Investiture of the Gods.

But... it was enough!

The four swords-Immortal-Slaying, Immortal-Butchering, Immortal-Trapping, and Immortal-Ending-appeared around Aleph-1, carrying a terrifying killing aura. Countless streaks of crimson sword qi flew from their blades, heading straight for Aleph-1.

As a higher-dimensional Threnodian, its status was enough to let it ignore lower-dimensional attacks, but Aleph-1 now had an extremely bad feeling.

If it was struck by those four unknown swords the ant had summoned, it might truly perish!

Its survival instinct compelled it to flee! But the four swords seemed to have completely sealed off cause and effect throughout the entire space. No matter how hard Aleph-1 tried, it couldn't leave the area.

"Ugh..." But Lu Guan was already struggling to hold on. Controlling power of this level was far beyond his abilities, and the energy sustaining the attack had been wrung out of his nearly exhausted Resonance Power yet again.

Just as the sword qi was about to dissipate, a vast, gentle energy suddenly flowed into him from behind, restoring Lu Guan's depleted Resonance Power.

With that power, the sword qi solidified once more.

Red sword light representing slaughter swept back and forth across Aleph-1's true form. Amid an eruption of energy that seemed almost enough to destroy the world, the "Tacet Discord of Nihility," Aleph-1, shattered.

"Huff... huff..."

Seeing this, Lu Guan smiled in satisfaction. He could no longer sustain the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, and the pain brought on by Overclocking could no longer be suppressed. His consciousness began to fade, and he fell from the air.

The Tac Tacet Mark on his palm returned to normal, but unlike before, an extra section had somehow appeared on it...

In a daze, he felt as though he were cradled in a warm embrace. At the last moment before he lost consciousness, a gentle female voice, melodious and a little playful, rang out.

"Oh my~ you can't fall asleep just yet~"

As soon as she spoke, a slender finger gently flicked Lu Guan's forehead, and his consciousness immediately regained control of his body.

When he opened his eyes again, Lu Guan found himself in a boundless white space. A blonde woman in a floor-length white-and-gold gown stood before him.

"Hiss... that hurts..." Lu Guan tried to move, but the aftereffects of Overclocking left him completely unable to.

"Oh my~ I would have forgotten if you hadn't said anything~" The blonde woman raised the staff in her hand and gently waved it at Lu Guan.

"Pain, pain, fly away~"

As the woman spoke, specks of green light radiated from the staff and streamed into Lu Guan's body. Wherever they went, the pain of Overclocking vanished, and Lu Guan found that he could move again.

The blonde woman bent down and offered Lu Guan her hand.

"Come on~ the floor is cold~ get up now~"

"...Thank you."

Lu Guan got to his feet and looked around before turning his gaze to the blonde woman, who was smiling at him.

"Just now... were you the one who saved me?"

The woman leaned closer and rubbed his head.

"Mmm~ looks like you're not so stupid after all~"

"But why did you choose such a dangerous method~"

"A dangerous method?"

Lu Guan quickly understood what she meant and said helplessly, "I didn't have any other choice... I couldn't let her walk into oblivion all alone..."

"Without Overclocking, my power alone wasn't nearly enough to shake the Tacet Discord of Nihility... I had to resort to that."

"Mmm~ looks like you are a little silly after all~" The blonde woman rested a hand on her chin and thought for a moment, then murmured to herself, "Could there have been something wrong with my guidance?"

"Guidance?"

The blonde woman nodded. "Mm-hmm~ since things have already come to this~ I won't hide it from you anymore~"

"I'm the reason you came to this world~"