"Whew… did I really make it out alive?"
Beyond the Xianzhou Luofu's star system, all that remained of Phantylia was her heliobus form, drifting through the void.
"That damned Emanator of Abundance… Cecilia, was it? I'll remember you!"
At this point, Phantylia was on the verge of losing it.
That vessel had been perfect. The Destruction authority granted by the Nanook, combined with the Ambrosial Arbor corrupted by the Stellaron—the flesh forged from those two forces had nearly let her touch the upper limits of an Emanator.
She could have become the mightiest being in the universe.
She could have made those insects fall to their knees and tremble beneath her.
She should have—
"Should have…"
The sphere of light quivered faintly.
And then she remembered the woman who had appeared at the end.
Cecilia.
The woman whose heart she had pierced with her own hand, only for her to reappear completely unharmed.
The woman who wielded that long spear and chanted those bizarre incantations.
The woman who had… ruined everything for her.
Venomous hatred echoed through the sea of stars, unanswered by anything.
This region of space was barren beyond belief. There was not even a proper star in sight—only endless darkness, and colder darkness beyond that.
"Cecilia… Cecilia… Cecilia!!!"
Phantylia drifted on and on.
She floated for who knew how long before a glimmer of light finally appeared ahead of her.
It was a dying star, its orange-red glow dim and exhausted, as though it might go out at any second. Several planets turned slowly within its gravitational field.
On one of them, there seemed to be signs of civilization.
Phantylia's spirit stirred.
Heliobi were notoriously hard to kill. As long as she forged herself another body, she could return and rise again.
Yet just as she prepared to close in, a streak of blazing fire rushed toward her at astonishing speed.
"That power—"
She recognized it at once.
It was no meteor. It was the aura of a Pathstrider charging straight at her.
Phantylia tried to flee, but in her current state, how could she possibly outrun it?
Very soon, a silver-white armored figure appeared before her.
"Target detected: heliobus lifeform Phantylia. Escape sequence in progress."
Phantylia's consciousness shook violently.
"Stellaron Hunter… Sam?!"
As one of the Lord Ravagers who prized intelligence above all else, she of course knew that name.
The Stellaron Hunters—the fugitive organization led by Elio, notorious across the cosmos. And Sam was one of their strongest combatants.
Wait, why was a Stellaron Hunter coming after her?
Had collecting Stellarons no longer satisfied them? Were they hunting Lord Ravagers now?
Damn it—if only she were still at full strength, how could she ever have ended up like this?
Even so, whether it was hopeless or not, running was still the only option.
Phantylia bolted in terror, but the speed of her heliobus form was laughable in front of Sam.
So this was it.
She was really going to die out here.
Die in some nameless stretch of space, ground down like an ant by a lunatic in a machine, with no one to ever know.
Yet just as despair began to close over her, a familiar aura entered her senses.
It was a Destruction presence tinged with Harmony.
Zephyro!
Thank heavens—she was saved!
"Zephyro, save me! Hurry, save me!"
Phantylia immediately fled toward Zephyro with all the speed she could muster.
Strangely, Sam did not rush after her this time.
At last, she reached the one she had been desperately hoping for.
"Zephyro, hurry! Hurry and stop that madman for me!"
"No—at your level, handling him should be easy. Just crush him for me!"
Phantylia finally reached Zephyro's side, her sphere of light trembling violently, her state unstable to the extreme.
And then she noticed Zephyro's expression.
That face, usually cold and severe, now held something subtly different.
It was the look one gave to something detestable.
No. Something was wrong with Zephyro's expression.
They were both Lord Ravagers. Though not especially close, they had worked together a few times.
With Zephyro's personality, seeing her in this condition should have earned a frown and a curt "What happened?"—not this look of disgust.
A thread of unease rose in Phantylia's heart.
But she suppressed it at once. This was no time for wild thoughts—Sam was still behind her.
"Zephyro, forget the rest for now. The one behind me—Sam, the Stellaron Hunter—he's hunting me down! Block him first, and I'll explain everything later!"
Zephyro did not move.
She simply hovered there in the sea of stars, looking at Phantylia with a gaze she had never worn before.
"Zephyro?" Phantylia's voice grew more uncertain.
"What are you doing? Move!"
Behind them, Sam had already stopped as well. Yet he, too, made no move to pursue further, merely floating there as if waiting for something.
The unnatural silence filled Phantylia with a terror she had never known before.
Then Zephyro suddenly reached out and seized her.
"Miss, I've captured the one who hurt Madam for you."
At those words, Phantylia's consciousness plunged into utter chaos.
"M-Miss?"
"Zephyro, what are you talking about? What Miss? What Madam? Have you gone insane?!"
But Zephyro did not respond.
At that moment, the Lord Ravager treated her like a trivial insect.
Or rather, like a trophy she meant to present to her master.
Then a white-clad figure appeared before the three of them.
It was Kiana, arriving directly from the space station.
The moment she appeared, the already eerie silence became even more suffocating.
Phantylia's sphere of light trembled violently as a terror beyond anything she had known surged through her consciousness.
From this girl, she could feel the aura of Destruction.
And it was so dense, so overwhelming, far beyond anything she had imagined.
More than that—in the depths of Phantylia's soul, she could actually feel an urge to kneel before her.
There was no doubt about it.
This girl was a Lord Ravager too.
Could she be the "Miss" Zephyro had spoken of?
Then Kiana spoke.
"So it was you who hurt my mom?"
For a moment, Phantylia froze completely.
When had she ever hurt her mother?!
She had been lying low on the Luofu this whole time.
She had only just made a breakthrough—and before she'd even had time to revel in it, she'd been beaten back into this miserable state. When would she possibly have had time to persecute anyone?
Suddenly, Zephyro tightened her grip, and Phantylia cried out in pain.
Zephyro, however, paid no attention.
"Phantylia, Miss asked you a question."
The blow Zephyro delivered struck hard against Phantylia's consciousness.
And in that instant, Phantylia remembered the one and only successful sneak attack she had landed during these past few days.
"When you say Madam… don't tell me you mean Cecilia?!"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 132)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter140)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter95)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter165)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 145
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 135
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 95
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 155
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 125
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 105
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 62
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 80
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 80
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 62
Uma Musume: I Want All 65
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
Summoning an Evil God, but the 41
Supernatural Multiverse 45
My Harem Is Indescribable 35
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 46
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin