Read Novel Full Chapter 1786: "This imbalance has not been resolved. It has merely been postponed."
Chapter 1786: “This imbalance has not been resolved. It has merely been postponed.”
“Thank you… for everything, RIN.”
^Nope. NOPE. Strategic assessment indicates a 99.9827% probability that remaining here results in your immediate death… and consequently mine. BITCH, RUN!! USE YOUR WEIRD-ASS ABILITY AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!^
RIN screamed, her voice nearly clipping from panic.
Young Aether simply shook his head.
“We’re really caught this time…”
There wasn’t the slightest trace of fear in his voice.
Only acceptance.
The next instant…
Every weapon fired.
Young Aether moved first.
SHING!!
Twin Eclipse carved through the air in an ivory arc.
The first mech-suit’s neck separated cleanly before the pilot even realised he’d been struck. The impossibly sharp blade sliced through reinforced alloy as though it were wet paper, sending showers of sparks and dark crimson blood across the metallic corridor.
Tang!!
CHUCK!!
“Hehe… Come on, fuckers! Is that all you’ve got?!”
His laughter echoed through the battlefield.
“FIRE!!”
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
Thousands of weapons erupted simultaneously.
The corridor transformed into an ocean of crimson particle beams, plasma bolts, railgun rounds, and missiles. The air screamed beneath overwhelming heat as shockwaves collided with one another, reducing steel walls into molten debris.
Yet…
The target vanished.
STEP!
SHING!!
Twin Eclipse carved a black arc through the storm.
Before anyone could comprehend what happened…
A head flew.
Then another.
Then five.
Then ten.
Metallic necks burst apart as though sliced by an invisible guillotine.
Everything split effortlessly beneath the unnaturally sharp blade.
Blood mixed with glowing coolant.
Heads rolled.
Arms spun through the air.
Hydraulic fluid rained like black acid across the battlefield.
“Hehe…”
Young Aether laughed.
Low… Playful… almost Terrifying.
“Don’t bore me bitches… Come on, KILL ME!!!”
He lunged directly into the middle of the formation instead of retreating.
Like a predator diving into a flock of sheep.
A soldier swung an electrified greatsword.
Young Aether ducked beneath it.
Twisted.
His left blade severed both legs.
His right blade pierced the pilot’s cockpit.
Without stopping…
He yanked the corpse free and threw it into another charging mech with enough force to shatter both frames.
BOOOOM!!
The explosion hurled burning fragments across the corridor.
Three soldiers died.
Four more were crushed beneath falling wreckage.
Another mech attempted to fire point-blank.
Young Aether grabbed the cannon with his bare hand.
CRACK!!
The barrel bent.
He forced it upward.
The weapon discharged into its own squad.
Bodies vanished beneath concentrated energy.
“Oops.”
He shrugged.
“My bad.”
His voice carried the same casual tone one might use after spilling a drink.
Every movement was efficient.
Every strike was fatal.
No wasted motion.
Twin Eclipse became nothing more than ivory crescents flashing through the crimson battlefield.
Necks disappeared.
Spines separated.
Mechanical torsos split from shoulder to hip.
One mech lost both arms before realising it had already been cut apart.
Another continued running three full steps before its upper body slowly slid from its waist.
Blood painted the walls.
Sparks illuminated the corridor.
Pieces of shattered armour bounced endlessly across the floor.
Young Aether simply kept walking.
Like Death itself had decided to carry two blades.
Every soldier who rushed him died within seconds.
Every formation collapsed.
Every coordinated assault dissolved into desperate panic.
“…Monster…”
Someone whispered over the communication channel.
“No…”
Another soldier answered while watching another squad disappear in seconds.
“That’s not a monster…”
“That’s a fucking calamity.”
Even the commanding officers hesitated.
The battlefield computers continuously recalculated his movements.
ERROR
PREDICTION FAILURE
ERROR
UNABLE TO TRACK TARGET
Warning messages flooded every tactical display.
Young Aether’s movements no longer resembled human.
One soldier emptied an entire magazine.
Young Aether simply walked through the barrage.
Bullets sparked against walls behind him.
None touched him.
“Hehe…”
“You guys seriously spent all this money on military equipment…”
“…just to entertain me?”
His laughter echoed across the corridor.
It wasn’t loud… just calm.
That calmness terrified them more than the killing itself.
^NO! No! I refuse to die like this! FUCK YOU!! JUST RUN!!^
RIN practically shrieked.
Young Aether smiled while cleanly removing another mech’s head.
“Death is part of life, my dear AI.”
He stepped over another corpse.
“We should embrace it…”
Another pull, taking the heart out.
“…not reject it.”
^YOU fucking embrace it, bitch! I ain’t dying like some pathetic NPC! Aww, hell no! I can’t believe all my predictive modules failed! How the fuck is this idiot supposed to be my saviour?! YOU’RE A SUICIDAL PSYCHOPATH!! Awwww… I don’t wanna die!!^
By now…
She was genuinely crying.
Young Aether honestly wasn’t sure whether he was talking to an advanced artificial intelligence anymore…
…or an emotionally unstable woman trapped inside a quantum processor.
Young Aether laughed.
“See?”
He casually spun Twin Eclipse once before another soldier charged him.
“Now that’s the spirit.”
Then…
BOOOOOOM!!
The world shook.
A colossal metallic foot descended from above like a falling skyscraper.
CRAAAAACK!!
The impact shattered the reinforced flooring beneath him.
Dust exploded outward as the giant assault mech drove its several-hundred-ton foot into the intruder with overwhelming force, crushing steel plating into twisted fragments.
Inside the command cockpit, the pilot smirked.
Direct hit.
There was no way anyone survived that.
Then…
“AAAAARRRHHHHHH!!”
The pilot’s confident expression disappeared.
The gigantic mech trembled.
Its enormous leg…
Was rising.
Against its own weight.
Beneath the massive foot…
Young Aether stood.
His entire body trembled violently as every muscle strained beyond its limits. Veins bulged across his arms and neck while his face burned crimson from exertion. Bones groaned. Tendons screamed. His boots sank into the fractured floor as he pushed upward with everything he possessed.
The several-hundred-ton machine…
Actually moved.
Bit…
By…
Bit.
“Don’t worry…”
He grunted through clenched teeth.
“…we’ve just returned to the checkpoint.”
^WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! THAT’S IT!! WE’RE FUCKING DEAD!!^
RIN’s voice cracked.
^OH GOD, IF YOU ACTUALLY EXIST, GIVE ME A HUMAN BODY! JUST GIVE ME FIVE MINUTES SO I CAN STRANGLE THIS ASSHOLE MYSELF!!^
Despite the crushing weight threatening to flatten him…
Young Aether almost laughed.
Even now…
She somehow managed to be hilarious.
BOOOOOOM!!
A crimson particle shell slammed directly into his side.
The impact launched him across the battlefield like a ragdoll.
His back screamed in agony as he slid down through showers of sparks.
Groaning, he forced himself back onto one knee.
Then…
He looked up.
Thousands of weapon barrels were aimed directly at him.
Every weapon hummed with terrifying power as scarlet particles spiralled around their muzzles, bathing the sector in an ominous crimson glow.
And Young Aether could only, “HHHHEEEEEEE—”
At that exact moment…
Inside the chamber…
Reality itself finally broke.
The dimensional chamber, already twisted by colliding subspaces, began folding inward. Every remaining portal shattered into streams of distorted light as space compressed upon itself. Walls bent impossibly. Gravity spiralled in every direction.
The chamber no longer resembled a room.
It resembled the inside of a collapsing universe.
Then…
Everything stopped.
For one impossible heartbeat…
Absolute silence.
OMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…
A deep resonance echoed throughout the entirety of Delta Division.
The sound wasn’t heard.
It was felt.
Buildings vibrated.
Glass trembled.
Bones ached.
Everyone instinctively looked toward the towering Delta Tower.
Then horror unfolded before their eyes.
The skyscraper…
Folded inward.
Not collapsed.
Folded!!
As though reality had grabbed the enormous structure and crumpled it like paper toward a single invisible point.
Entire floors disappeared.
Steel twisted.
Concrete compressed.
Military sectors surrounding the tower were dragged inward one after another. Tanks, aircraft, defence platforms, and entire platoons vanished into the impossible distortion.
The soldiers stationed outside the entrance gates stared in complete horror.
“The… the space…”
“It’s folding…”
“No…”
“Reality itself is collapsing!”
Panic erupted.
“RUN!!”
Everyone fled.
The dimensional collapse continued growing deeper and deeper, consuming streets, vehicles, buildings, and defensive fortifications as if the world itself had become liquid.
Then…
It stopped.
Everything froze.
One second.
Two.
Three.
…BLOP!!
A tiny sound.
Almost identical to a droplet striking still water.
Followed by…
SSSHHHHHTTRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
CCCCRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAACKKKKKK!!!!
The compressed space violently rebounded.
An apocalyptic shockwave erupted outward.
The ground split apart for hundreds of meters.
Towering buildings cracked down their centres.
Millions of windows exploded simultaneously into glittering clouds of glass.
Entire city blocks tilted beneath the force.
The shockwave ripped across Delta Division like an invisible tsunami.
Cursed Humans.
Military personnel.
Combat mechs.
Civilian vehicles.
Concrete.
Steel.
Everything was thrown through the air.
Buildings collided with one another as though they weighed nothing.
Dust swallowed the horizon.
Amid the expanding wave…
Two figures were launched skyward.
One was engulfed in shadow, streaking toward Alpha City like a black meteor wrapped in dark radiance.
The other…
Was considerably less dignified.
A completely naked man spun high into the open sky.
Young Aether.
Young Aether’s ice-blue eyes reflected the endless azure sky above as his handsome face slowly returned to normal.
The fragments of deep black armour dissolved into black particles around him.
The last remnants of deep black misty armour flickered across his legs before shrinking toward his toes and vanishing completely into drifting motes of darkness.
His two hands hurriedly covered his crotch while his entirely naked back remained shamelessly exposed to everyone below. He let out a long, irritated sigh before muttering,
“Come on, man… Not this again! This isn’t fun anymore.”
He sounded genuinely disappointed.
Behind his eyes…
From somewhere deep within his consciousness…
“Hehehehe~”
A dark, familiar voice echoed softly.
THURDDD!!
His body crashed through the remains of a shattered building. Concrete exploded into clouds of dust as twisted steel beams snapped apart. Chunks of walls collapsed onto him, burying his body beneath layers of broken debris.
****
Your (POV) lingered on the place where Young Aether had crashed into the broken building. Dust drifted through the air as chunks of rubble continued falling onto the buried figure.
Then, as though pulled away by an invisible force, your vision slowly expanded, revealing countless ruined buildings stretching across the horizon. Streets had become fields of rubble, black smoke curled into the sky, and terrified civilians sprinted through the destruction while cursed humans relentlessly pursued them.
The entire division unfolded before your eyes in one horrifying panorama.
The view gradually turned to the right before gliding forward through the devastated city. Every passing second carried more desperate cries, their voices overlapping until they became a single chorus of despair that echoed endlessly inside your ears.
“Help us!!”
“GRANDPA!!!”
“NOOOO!!!”
Buildings continued collapsing onto fleeing civilians, crushing some beneath mountains of debris while others reached desperately toward buried loved ones they could no longer save.
Their cries blended together with another horrifying sound that tore through the ruined streets.
“KYYYRRRRRRRRR!!!”
The cursed monsters charged without hesitation, hunting ordinary humans with terrifying instinct. Those fortunate enough to escape continued running without looking back, while the unlucky ones, trapped beneath broken concrete yet still alive, were dragged out by clawed hands waiting patiently for their prey to stop struggling.
No miracle came for them.
The view continued moving forward. Along the way, a colossal metallic machine, nearly the size of a villa, lay collapsed across the shattered streets and buildings. Its enormous frame had crushed both humans and cursed monsters beneath its weight, while crimson sparks burst erratically across its fractured armour like bleeding veins of electricity.
The cursed monsters growled viciously before throwing themselves onto the giant machine with furious expressions, clawing and tearing at its armour as though it were the very thing that had wounded and hunted them moments earlier.
Ssnnnggg~
Its crimson eyes suddenly flared back to life.
For a brief moment, the machine seemed to awaken as power surged through its battered frame. Red energy coursed beneath cracked armor plating, and its enormous metal hand slowly lifted from the shattered ground, scattering chunks of concrete with every slight movement.
Ignoring that trivial scene, your view continued forward, accelerating faster and faster as ruined buildings blurred past before suddenly giving way to the endless ocean.
Without slowing, your vision arced gracefully across the coastline before plunging straight toward the water.
Blop~
The soft sound echoed inside your ears as your vision slipped beneath the ocean’s surface. Schools of tiny fish trembled at your approach before darting away in frightened bursts. Sunlight rippled across the water above, but with every passing meter, the light weakened.
The brilliant blue sea slowly transformed into a cold, endless abyss where darkness swallowed every remaining trace of colour.
Still, your vision continued descending.
Deeper…
And deeper…
Until nothing remained except absolute darkness.
Yet something inside your heart urged you onward, whispering that somewhere beyond the endless blackness, a light still waited.
Ridiculous…
Yet you believed it.
As you descended into the deepest part of the ocean, exactly as if your hope had been answered, a brilliant white light suddenly shimmered in the distance. It glowed with quiet serenity, untouched by the crushing darkness surrounding it.
Your vision shot toward it instantly, accelerating like a fish snapping its tail before launching through the water at incredible speed.
Meter by meter, the light grew larger until it completely filled your vision.
Then…
Everything stopped.
The brilliant radiance softened, dimming just enough for your eyes to adjust. Within the gentle glow stood a lone figure clothed entirely in flowing white robes. A long staff rested quietly in her hand as she faced your direction without moving. Her face remained hidden beneath the deep hood that concealed everything inside an unnatural darkness, as though even light itself refused to enter.
Then, from within that silent darkness, a calm voice finally spoke.
“Vae’tharan na’reilin. En vay-LEER shae’vara.”