Xyrin Empire
Chapter 398 - Chapter 398 Chapter 398 Contentment

Chapter 398: Chapter 398: Contentment Chapter 398: Chapter 398: Contentment The world was silent as if the very air had been shocked into silence by Sandora’s words. I could feel it– the entire Soul World was crumbling apart because of some woman’s gossip.

Techno-geeks saving the world, gossipy destruction of time and space, the ancients really did not deceive me… wait, what am I even babbling about?

I really had not expected that this Avis, in her madness to avenge her homeland and her people, would have such a background– the collective vengeful spirit of an entire race was so immense. This glowing entity (please forgive my use of this term), her millions of years of planning, was it all just because of memories forced upon her?

And she had even accepted such a fate willingly…

Furthermore, I must express amazement at Aresta’s love life– that guy really knows no bounds.

Alright, alright, I admit, someone who has a personal Ghost Maid and a clingy Dullard Angel has the least right to say this…

“What do you know…” Avis trembled as she stood up, her radiance flickering, “What do you emotionless war machines know… Our hatred, you massacred our entire race!!! You didn’t even spare our homeland, our entire star system!! And all just because we were infected? Even if these experiences are false, even if I myself am false, so what? My only purpose for existing is to kill you, nothing else…”

“But no matter what, you still maintain the appearance of Aresta’s wife at this moment,” Sandora said indifferently, yet every word made Avis’s light flicker, “You want to die here in the identity of his wife, right? Because from the beginning, you knew that your revenge was mostly doomed to fail.”

“What nonsense are you talking… Aresta… that fool… He was just a pawn to perfect this Soul World, I’ve already cut off his life support…”

Avis spoke in fits and starts, barely able to speak as if each word exhausted all her strength due to the extreme weakness of her body.

“So you are a tsundere,” Sandora concluded with a decisive nod, “You just want to be with Aresta forever after death, Iverson People believe in this the most, yes, you are– a tsundere!!”

At that moment, I felt as if countless sharp gazes had pierced the barriers between planes, focusing on me like little knives.

I admit my mistake, I am guilty, I repent, I, who have corrupted the noble and proud Queen Xyrin into this state, truly committed a heinous crime ORZ!!

But now, it seemed that Avis no longer had the chance to refute Sandora’s words. Visibly, her body was rapidly dimming.

First, the Soul World was burnt clean by my fire, and then her own soul essence was cut into pieces by Sandora. To still be verbal sparring with Sandora now was a miracle in itself, but unfortunately, at this moment, the undying light of the Saint Fighters who believed in Chun Ge did not continue to envelop Avis, and she began to dissipate.

Specks of glowing light emanated from her broken body, and with each second, Avis’s figure dimmed further.

Sandora and I slowly approached her: “Avis, the last warrior of Iverson to resist the Empire, you have faithfully guarded your duty. Now, do you have any last words?”

At this moment, Avis had only a blurred upper body left. She lay on the ground of her homeland, looking up as her dimming pupils reflected the charred sky burnt by the Imperial Army.

“I have… fulfilled my duty…”

Those were the last words left by the last person from Iverson. Seconds later, the entire world collapsed thunderously.

The familiar sunset was dipping in the sky, the streets of Academy City were dyed golden red by the afterglow, which made me recall the lifeless sky of the Iverson Mother Star that I had just seen.

Before me stood the same black building where Aresta had been hiding, devoid of any light or sound, without any doors or windows. I had said long before that it resembled a tomb, and now, it truly became a tomb.

“Aresta must be dead by now. As a master of Energy Science, Avis wouldn’t have let the life support device inside run a second longer than necessary.”

Touching the cold outer wall of the black building, Sandora’s voice carried a hint of sentiment.

“Even though we’re right beside each other, we have to be separated by death into two worlds,” I took a deep breath of the familiar air of Earth, “this is… just too awful…”

“Ah Jun, who would have thought you could be sentimental,” Sandora turned her head towards me, grinning at me, “but now, everything has finally come to an end–Avis perished just today.”

“What? Feeling down?”

Feeling a faint sense of loss and confusion shared deep within my heart, I blurted out almost without thinking.

“A little…” Sandora sighed, “Ah Jun, do you think I was wrong in the past? If I had just waited longer, maybe I could have found another solution…”

“Silly girl,” I tapped Sandora lightly on the head, “even if we could turn back time, do you really think you’d find another way? The tragedy of Ai Hua wasn’t your doing.”

Reflected in Sandora’s sea-blue eyes was a distant sunset, with a halo of gold; it was some time before she smiled in resignation, “That’s true, I didn’t expect I’d be ruminating over these things. If I really had to sigh over them, I might as well not do anything anymore–defeating the Abyss was an unquestionable necessity.”

So, just how many Races did you wipe out back in the day, girl?

“It’s just that no one expected a Legendary figure like Aresta to meet his end in such a way.”

I turned back and looked at the solemn, tombstone-like black building in the twilight of the evening sun. Aresta, who once stood at the pinnacle of power on the Science side and opposed the entire Magic side, actually died like that, killed by the twisted “love” of an Avis life form. It was so suffocating that not a single person knew of his final struggles.

“Such a dramatic turn of events, truly unexpected by anyone.”

Sandora nodded, “Yeah, probably even the author didn’t see it coming… Ow!”

I withdrew my hand from tapping Sandora’s head and brought up what was currently the most pressing issue, “Aresta’s demise was swift, but we still have headaches to deal with–how are we going to fill the vacuum left by the death of the Old Fox?”

That’s why I never took out that annoying tube-man; his position and function were too important. In the world’s covert power struggles, he played an essential role. That the City of Science, Academy City, with only two million people, could confront the massive Magic side of hundreds of millions, was largely due to the tactics of the Old Fox Aresta. But now that the old guy suddenly bit the dust, what follows might be a devastating blow to the entire Science side.

By comparison, although we have a relatively close relationship with Lola from the Magic side, I still prefer the Science side, so maintaining a delicate balance between the two forces in the world after Aresta’s death becomes very important–we can’t possibly stay here forever, right?

And the threats from outside the city are one thing; the complex forces within Academy City cannot be overlooked either. The Supervisory Council and the various powers of the Dark Side have never been contented. Those who have always dreamed of being the chess players are fed up with being pawns. With Aresta’s death, will these forces immediately revolt?

But clearly, Sandora was not really affected by my concerns, or rather, she wouldn’t let herself waste even half a brain cell on such subtle power adjustments. For the Xyrin Apostles, especially their leaders who have never known political strife, this problem was too remote…

Whether it’s Sandora, Pandora, or even Alaya, that sweet child, their logic when dealing with outsiders has always been to either obey or be eliminated–there’s no third option.

Aresta’s death will not be made public for the time being. I ultimately decided to temporarily return to the institute to report what happened here to Big Sister and also see how Silvia was doing. Although the Ai Hua who tampered with her soul has died, whether her self-collapse process could be stopped still depends on Alaya’s efforts.

Judging from the time, it should have ended by now; Academy City still stands, no debris from Universe Warships are falling from the Sky, and the crisis seems to be over.

Sure enough, after a while, I received a Spiritual Connection from Qianqian and Big Sister in the depths of my consciousness.

“Ah Jun? Ah Jun! That’s great, we’ve finally connected!”

It was Qianqian’s voice.

“Just now, your Spiritual Connection suddenly disappeared, even the Scorpions dropped out of the command network, we were worried sick. If Lin Xue hadn’t confirmed your safe return, we would have sent out the Imperial Army.”

This is Big Sister’s voice–But seriously, is it really okay to discuss mobilizing the army with such a gentle tone? Big Sister, you haven’t caught something suspicious known as the Pandora Virus, have you?

“Big Sis, how’s Silvia doing?”

As I rushed toward the research institute with Sandora, I asked through the Spiritual Connection.

“Thank heavens, she’s awake now, that slowpoke is currently chatting with Visca.”

“What about Alaya?”

“She’s gone to sleep,” Big Sister’s voice came with suppressed laughter, “She sleepwalked out on her own, at first we thought we’d lost her…”

I hung up the Spiritual Connection with them, speechless, finally feeling a sense of relief in my heart.

It’s truly bliss, this leisure time after the crisis has been resolved–

Facing the brilliant rose-red dusk brought about by the United Fleet’s simulated illumination and breathing in the cool air that had shed the day’s heat, I comfortably leaned back on…

Well, on the stable and steady shell of a little Armored Scorpion…

Seriously, how did I come up with this genius idea?

“Commander… could you please stop moving around?” Vega’s embarrassed voice came from very close by, and it was the first time I heard the typically cool and composed Scorpion Sister speak with a tone tinged with shyness and hesitation, “The tail needs to maintain balance.”

That’s right, this was the result of my brilliant spur-of-the-moment idea, dubbed the Little Scorpion Number One, a portable sightseeing vehicle. You know, apart from the Alloy Shell feeling a bit hard to sit on, this feeling of touring the city perched on the back of an Armored Scorpion is just like the pleasure of riding a horse through the prairies!

At that moment, seeing Vega’s broad and flat Scorpion Shell, I suddenly came up with this idea, originally just jokingly said in passing, but to my surprise, Vega hesitated only briefly before coming over and lowering her body. Upon inquiry, it turns out that the Armored Scorpions do indeed have the habit of carrying things!

However, typically, what they carry are various external plug-in devices (their shells hide various types of universal equipment slots, in an emergency, a single Armored Scorpion can even be transformed into a land combat tank or similar weapon platform, of course, as a personal history buff of cold weapons, they don’t particularly like having a few dozen rocket launchers mounted on their shells), and now the only difference was that instead of equipment, it was their own two commanders they were carrying.

Different from human views, the Scorpions don’t mind being temporarily requisitioned as “mounts” by their own commanders. Next to Vega, a few Scorpions even cast envious glances at their commander, while one picked at random by Sandora was looked upon with raw envy, jealousy, and resentment.

Naturally, this attracted countless gazes along the way–Earthlings would never imagine that the leisure life of alien soldiers could be so full of fun.

“Ah! It’s Director Brother!”

Near the research institute, we unexpectedly ran into someone, Zuotian Tsuruya, who seemed to be casually strolling around with a few students who looked like members of the Disciplinary Committee, and two Xyrin Soldiers.

“Yo! Tsuruya.”

I cheerfully waved and greeted her, and gently tapped on Vega’s shell (…) for the Scorpion Squad to come to a neat halt.

A group of Disciplinary Committee members and passers-by from afar watched on calmly.

“Haah, Vega Big Sis, how come…”

Tsuruya had a gossip-filled expression on her face, she came up and circled around the Scorpion Sister acting as a mount before asking, and she curiously sized me up at the same time.

“Brother really has a nasty sense of humor~~~”

The heck were you imagining just now, you restless bastard!

“What are you guys doing?”

I hopped off Vega’s back, eyeing the Disciplinary Committee members nearby, and casually asked. The group I was scrutinizing watched the formidable Scorpion Squad with a mix of seven parts awe and three parts admiration. To these students at the peak of their curiosity, the Scorpions, with their fierce and formidable look, were far more fascinating than the Imperial Leader with a mortal face.

From what I just observed, these Disciplinary Committee members seemed to be under Tsuruya’s command of sorts?

“Ha ha, just patrolling, patrolling,” Tsuruya laughed heartily. “Some power users in Academy City have been influenced by the ‘Alien Conspiracy Theory’ and are showing signs of restlessness. Therefore, the Disciplinary Committee’s daily work has become more tense. After my abilities and identity were exposed, Black forced me to come over and help. The Disciplinary Committee headquarters in the Seventh District even set up a special operations group to cooperate with me. These seniors are my classmates, together with Black, and we just happened to patrol today, so we’re acting together.”

Tsuruya’s face still showed a trace of fatigue. Clearly, this work that required effort wasn’t as relaxing as she made it out to be. However, the black-haired girl’s face always wore a happy smile. It seemed that being able to rely on her own strength to be useful to her friends made her quite happy.

As for the “Alien Conspiracy Theorists” in Academy City that she mentioned, I had known about them for a long time. As annoying as it was, they were just ordinary civilians (in the eyes of the Imperial Army), mentally just a bit too tense. Using the Regular Army or having Academy City’s higher-ups directly prohibit speech wouldn’t be wise. Now, it seemed that only someone like Tsuruya, who held dual roles as an Imperial Commander and Academy City student, was suitable to deal with the situation head-on. No wonder Sandora entrusted Tsuruya with the command of Academy City’s peacekeeping forces.

Thinking of this, I nodded at Sandora with a smile, only to be met with a puzzled look in return.

Well, maybe Her Majesty the Queen, who couldn’t be bothered with the trivial matters, just randomly chose someone she knew from Academy City…

After saying goodbye to the chance meeting with Tsuruya and the others, we finally returned to the research institute.

Just an afternoon out, and it felt like a lot had happened.

Especially the appearance of the Iverson Race–it still felt a bit heavy when I thought about it.

But for the time being, I put those annoying matters aside and went to visit Silvia, who was supposedly “recovered.”

Since Silvia had woken up, Visca had been by her side, and upon seeing me, she immediately cheered and rushed over, calling out happily, “Brother, Brother! Silvia is awake~~~”

At first, she was used to calling her Bellavilla and couldn’t change that, but now she was already well accustomed to the new name.

I patted the continuously hopping Visca’s little head with a smile. There was just no suppressing the liveliness of this little rascal without doing so. Sometimes, while cajoling the boisterous Visca, I really missed Pandora’s quietness.

“Ah–it’s Director sir–”

A soft and fluffy voice came from the side, stopping the lively Visca in her tracks–Silvia’s way of speaking sure was deadly…

“Silvia, how are you feeling now?”

I sat down beside Silvia’s bed. It felt like the energy fluctuations around her had completely stabilized.

“I’m all better now~~~” Silvia drawled, touching her hair with a smile. “I never imagined I would faint because of low blood sugar–it seems I really should consume more sugar and vitamins…”

The one in front of me was just too gullible! I would bet Qianqian didn’t even take a second to make up excuses for her!

I chatted with her for a bit and realized this slow-on-the-uptake creature still had no sense of incongruity with all the odd people and things around her. She was contentedly enjoying a life of free meals in the institute and didn’t even realize the red barrier in the sky was abnormal. This low-maintenance, easy-going soul, who never watched TV, went online, or even left the premises, didn’t even know about the meteor showers in outer space!

Bellavilla oh Bellavilla, what unspeakable horrors have befallen you before…(To be continued. For more, please visit www.NovelFire.net. More chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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