Star Odyssey

Chapter 4198: Strength Alone

Lu Yin had learned that Obscura communicated by using the lines to permanently carve patterns on the inside of the floating coffins. Summoning one of Obscura’s gates was done in the same manner; he had to use the red line to draw a gate on the outside of the coffin lid. The red line served as the pen, while the coffin’s lid acted as the paper. This was how different members of Obscura contacted each other and cooperated.

Even Lu Yin found it a miraculous system.

Greater Sancte Green Lotus and the others had all studied the red coffin, but they had not been able to learn anything from it. Despite their failures, it turned out to be immensely useful.

Lu Yin somewhat regretted letting the silver coffin be destroyed. If its lid had not been shattered, it might have also been incredibly useful, given that he still had the silver line.

He quickly finished drawing the gate, and as soon as it was finished, the etched image of the gate moved like flowing water. It gradually spread across the entire surface of the coffin’s lid. As that happened, Lu Yin carefully watched as the drawing of the gate took on more details. Various creatures started to appear in the drawing, and a mournful aura slowly spread out. Ultimately, the entire drawing peeled away from the red coffin, and an actual gate appeared. There was no mistaking one of Obscura’s gates.

As Lu Yin and Green Lotus watched one of Obscura’s gates take form before their eyes, they had no way to understand how it was accomplished. All they could say was that the entire process used a different kind of power.

Many people could not comprehend things like Heartrift Power or Extremes Must Be Reversed either. It was perfectly normal for someone to not be able to understand another’s power.

“We should go. From here, we leave this to destiny,” Greater Sancte Green Lotus said.

Lu Yin’s heart stirred. Destiny?

He had no idea where Destiny might be. She and the God of Death were far too mysterious, and there was still no news of either one.

A moment later, Lu Yin and Greater Sancte Green Lotus vanished, leaving only Obscura’s gate behind.

The technological civilization’s attacks posed no threat to the gate as one had already withstood a blow from Greater Sancte Awe Gate. Only an attack as powerful as an Immortal’s could possibly destroy it.

Such a strike was also not something that the technological civilization could quickly unleash.

“Beep. Lifeforms have vanished... Beep. Lifeforms have vanished...”

“Vanished? They fled? Initiate absolute analysis.”

“Beep. Absolute analysis initiated... Beep. Absolute analysis in progress... Beep. Absolute analysis in progress... Beep. Analysis complete. No change in matter. No change in space. No change in time.”

“Impossible. How can there not be any change at all? If they fled, then even the smallest movement should have affected their surroundings. That cannot be avoided. How could there be no change? Continue the analysis.”

“Beep. Absolute analysis in progress... Beep. Absolute analysis in progress... Absolute analysis complete. No change in matter. No change in space. No change in time.”

“Previously, the Third Fleet speculated that they might have escaped using the power of time or space. A support ship couldn’t analyze what happened, but a mainship shouldn’t fail. If nothing has changed at all, then could it be... teleportation?

“Send a report to the Empire now!”

“Beep. Foreign object detected. Should it be cleared?”

“There’s still something there? Analyze it.”

“Beep. Analysis initiated... Beep. Analysis complete. Perfect match with the previous lifeforms.”

“A match? Is it still them? How did they return? Absolute analysis.”

“Beep. Absolute analysis initiated... Beep. Absolute analysis in progress... Beep. Absolute analysis complete. Target vanished. Time reversed. Warning: temporal revision detected.”

“By how much?”

“Three seconds.”

“Three seconds? They vanished again, but this time there’s a temporal alteration, which means that something has changed. This means that their previous disappearance might not have been them leaving, but rather them making themselves unobservable to us while they actually remained in place. This time, they truly departed, and they did so by rewinding time by three seconds. That fits. Immediately send a full report to the empire and request an imperial analysis.”

“Beep. Foreign object detected. Should it be cleared?”

“Again? Is it them again? Analyze.”

“Beep. Analysis in progress... Beep. Analysis in progress... Beep. Analysis complete. Image transmitting. Height, thickness, degree of material alteration...”

“Is that... a gate?”

“Beep. Should the object be cleared? Beep. Should the object be cleared?”

“Of course not. Those two creatures clearly left this gate behind. Could they have been hiding inside the gate just now? Send a full report to the empire at once.”

“Beep. Transmitting report... Beep. Transmitting report... Beep. Transmission complete.”

“Very well. We will wait for the empire’s response. By the way, how long until the third mainship arrives?”

“The third mainship is in transit. Five jumps remaining.”

“Then it won’t be long. By that time, we should have received the empire’s reply.”

Elsewhere, Lu Yin and Greater Sancte Green Lotus reappeared a short distance from the Gate of Laws. Looking back, Lu Yin gave a wry smile. “We almost made a huge mistake. That would have greatly reduced our chances of successfully using this technological civilization.”

Greater Sancte Green Lotus matched Lu Yin with a shrug. “I am used to such things. There is nothing that we can do.”

Lu Yin had initially fled as soon as he summoned Obscura’s gate, but right after, he had felt that something was off about the situation. If they escaped while leaving no traces that could be detected, would it not lead others to suspect teleportation? Even if not teleportation, then anyone who could instantly escape beyond the detection range of a technological civilization would have to be a top-level powerhouse. Such strength would invariably cause heightened wariness.

With no other choice, Lu Yin had gone back and staged a second escape.

The second time, he had deliberately reversed time with Lightstream.This created some flaws in their escape that the enemy could use to understand how Lu Yin and Green Lotus had left.

It was not difficult for an Immortal to escape beyond an opponent’s detection range, but doing so in a manner that left absolutely no traces behind was something else entirely, and that would push the technological civilization to extreme caution.

Lu Yin’s goal was to lure them through the gate, not to engage in psychological warfare in a location that did not matter.

At this juncture, everything depended on whether the technological civilization would pass through the gate and discover the Thorn Civilization on the other side.

Lu Yin peered into the distance with a complicated expression. He had never crossed paths with the Thorn Civilization before. They were neither an enemy nor an ally, and yet he was attacking them with a technological civilization. That was not an easy thing for Lu Yin to accept.

And yet this was simply the way of the cosmos. No one knew who might be the next to be destroyed.

The Nine Odysseys Megaverse had destroyed many of their neighboring civilizations. They had shown no mercy. Mercy was nothing more than hypocrisy.

Everything was for the sake of survival.

Obscura would not bother to use logic when they chose to annihilate human civilization, and Lu Yin would not show mercy to foreign civilizations either. Should their positions be reversed, the Thorn Civilization would not spare humanity.

In the end, all that mattered was strength.

There was a certain megaverse in the Aevum Inch that was filled with bright green planets. The green filled the darkness of the universes, which in turn caused the megaverse itself to emit a hazy glow.

This was the home of the Thorn Civilization. It had once been as dark and empty as any other megaverse, but ever since the thorn creatures had started propagating wildly and spread throughout the entire megaverse, including its parallel universes, they had terraformed every planet that they had come across, transforming each one into a crystalline astral body that was suitable for the thorn creatures’ survival. That was how the megaverse had taken on its current appearance.

From afar, the megaverse looked like a hazy, flat stone of emerald green.

There were thorn creatures everywhere on the crystalline planets. Some were small enough to fit in the palm of a human hand, while the largest were massive enough to cover entire planets.

The thorn creatures looked like worms, though with broad heads and narrow bodies. They had four claws and countless barbed spikes along their bodies, the entirety of which consisted of emerald green and white speckles. Some crawled along the crystal surfaces, while others leapt about and traveled through outer space, leaving countless green traces behind them.

All of the green speckled trails that filled the universes were from thorn creatures.

The thorn creatures were invincible in their megaverse. All other lifeforms had become their food.

Suddenly, a small shadow swept through, erasing the green lines from the universe while stirring up the void.

“Ancestor, have you awakened?”

“Have foreigners appeared?”

“No, Ancestor, none.”

“None? Strange... Why do I feel increasingly uneasy? This is not a good feeling at all.”

“Have you sensed something, Ancestor?”

“I have already checked, but there is nothing. Strange... Very strange.”

The Thorn Civilization’s Immortal did not notice the two gates that had appeared outside the megaverse, one on each side. They were not at all conspicuous.

In the Aevum Inch, a small shadow observed the distant megaverse, muttering to itself, “Those thorn creatures even gnawed on their megaverse’s Mother Tree, leaving it bare. They are quite cruel, and their Immortal seems to be particularly troublesome. Fortunately, Lan Meng gave me the coordinates of a civilization that it knows about, which is right before me.

“It’s a civilization with two Immortals, so they should be able to destroy the Thorn Civilization. If not, I also know of another civilization. They might only have one Immortal, but that creature has already fought a war with another civilization, which means that it should be strong enough to also eradicate the Thorn Civilization. I hope that things won’t come to that, as I fear that there won’t be enough time.

“You want to compete with me? A human civilization? Hmph! Once I join Obscura, I will help Lan Meng deal with you first.

“It’s all just a matter of who moves faster. If that human has his civilization take action, things will become troublesome. That human civilization is not at all weak. I need to stay one step ahead of him.”

With that thought, the creature took out a brown coffin. Unlike the red one, this brown coffin could be stored inside something that resembled a cosmic ring and freely taken out.

The creature then used a brown line to etch the image of a gate onto the outside of the brown coffin’s lid.

The drawing of the gate proceeded to spread as images of various creatures appeared on it.

“Come, come! Let me join Obscura as quickly as possible. I must join Obscura! Come!” A single eye appeared beneath the shadow. It was clearly filled with anticipation and excitement.

When Obscura’s gate took form, the brown line snapped to activate it.

The next moment, light flared from the gate, and it drew the nearby megaverse’s attention. A powerful aura immediately swept over the area, and the shadow withdrew.

On the other side, outside the Thorn Civilization, another gate shone brightly, also drawing the attention of the Thorn Civilization’s ancestor.

The Immortal was a massive thorn creature, large enough to nearly cover the starry sky.

The Immortal thorn creature had two bulging eyes with vertically slitted pupils. They suddenly focused on the gate just past the boundary of their megaverse. What is that?

The creature’s unease instantly intensified. It did not hesitate at all to attack the gate, determined to destroy it.

But the very next moment, a creature emerged from the gate. It was not an Immortal, but a powerful Dukkhan.

As soon as the creature passed through the gate, it saw the colossal body of the thorn creatures’ ancestor crashing downwards. There was a cry of terror, and half of the Dukkhan’s body managed to get out of the way, only for the other half to be smashed. Blood sprayed across the Aevum Inch.

The gate shuddered, but it was not destroyed.

The Immortal thorn creature attacked a second time, but as it did so, a powerful aura passed forth the gate. This one was clearly an Immortal.

A war erupted between the two civilizations.

More and more creatures flowed through the gate and into the Thorn Civilization’s megaverse. No reason was needed. Once two civilizations made contact with each other, all that awaited them was war. This was the reality for most civilizations throughout the Aevum Inch, unless the strength of the two civilizations was evenly matched and they were wary of one another. The only other exception was if they knew about Obscura.

Without knowledge of Obscura, each civilization would simply assume that the gate belonged to their enemy and that it heralded a war between civilizations.

The shadow also slipped through the gate to arrive near the Thorn Civilization’s megaverse. It watched the Immortals fight, knowing that another Immortal would soon join the fray. The shorter the war was, the shorter the increase of the karmic chain. Two against one could not be more ideal.

“Come on! Destroy this Thorn Civilization! Let me join Obscura!”