It was... a storm. A storm was what had wiped out Kravax, amongst countless other planets throughout history.
The Iron Rain was, in essence, a cloud. In the vast reaches of space, clouds of dust, ice, or other particles weren't uncommon. In fact, they could grow so large that they could surround entire star systems.
Like humanity's original solar system, for one. The Oort Cloud was a thick, spherical shell surrounding Earth's solar system and separating it from the rest of the cosmos.
However, unlike other clouds, the Iron Rain was made of steel — hence, the name. It was, quite literally, a rain of iron.
But even that wasn't a unique concept. Clusters of minerals floating in space were normal, and that was true even if it was iron. Moreover, how was iron supposed to wipe out an entire planet — more than one, even, — from existence? It was just ridiculous.
Except...
The Iron Rain wasn't something natural. That much was clear to anyone who actually looked at what it was made of. Because its namesake didn't imply that there was simply stray metal coalescing into a moving cloud.
The iron making up the Iron Rain... was sublime, perfected steel.
Forged into weapons.
The Iron Rain was a hurricane of swords, spears, axes, lances, hammers, knives, daggers, shields—
Numbering in the quintillions, the amount of powerful weapons making up the Iron Rain was so high that they outnumbered the human population manyfold.
These weapons cleaved through the Universe at speeds so extreme that even light moved at a snail's pace in comparison. Naked to the eyes of even Transcendents, it was a wonder that anyone knew what the Iron Rain was. Realistically, once it came crashing down, you were shredded to the last atom before you even knew it was in your solar system.
And so was the planet you were standing on. Becoming a footnote in the annals of history overnight.
Clearly, the phenomena of Iron Rain wasn't mundane. How could it be? The fact that weapons of all things were moving through space at such speeds and with such utterly immense quantities was incomprehensibly mad. Then, there was the fact that these weapons were able to even keep their shapes despite the strain of moving beyond light speed — far beyond it, really.
They should have all collapsed at a molecular level. Hell, even Transcendent material would be destroyed at those speeds.
Where would someone get quintillions of weapons, anyways? And why would they launch them across space?
Amusement? Pretty believable, actually.
Where did the Iron Rain come from, anyways? Sunny wasn't too sure. Nobody was too sure, actually. However, there were statements saying that they originated during the Swarm Disaster, which was...
'...Huh.'
When was the Swarm Disaster? No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find any particular time period.
...Sunny's intuition was telling him something was very wrong.
...In any case, the Nightmare Spell descended over seventeen thousand years ago, and the Swarm Disaster should be after that, right? So the Iron Rain was likely around for around a dozen thousand years at most.
And why was its path so inconsistent? It was like someone was opening a portal in its path and sending elsewhere, rather than letting it take its course. How did the IPC even track it in the first place? Why did someone have enough time to waste to create quintillions of swords?!
Eighteen zeroes, by the way.
He wondered if this was the pinnacle of employment or unemployment. At what point did having a job loop around to not having a job?
Maybe he'll ask SoundlessHeaven, later. She was basically the only person who could give him a normal opinion.
Sunny sighed. His entire plan of having underground business dealings with a princess from a cultist gang worshipping Nanook went up in flames.
On a more serious note... it was horrifying. For there to be things in space that moved so quickly, and were so devastating that one's life could be ended in an instant. Whether Constance was dead or not... well, who knew? It depended entirely on whether or not she had been on Kravax at the time, and he knew that was only one of the locations for her operations.
But was he really going to bother looking around the cosmos to try and find her?
Nope. The wasted time would only bring him diminishing returns.
So, that was how Sunny found he had nothing much to do anymore. He could continue to practice Weaving, sure, but...
The idea of going out to annoy Dan Heng as he partook in whatever business he was partaking in suddenly sounded very appealing.
Sunny snickered deviously.