NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Herta Space Station 3
{Time passes, Herta Space Station, Main Control Zone}
"What's the situation?" Austin appeared with two silver swords in hand. In his right hand was a single curved sword resembling Izumo's katana, with a golden handguard that gleamed without reflecting light. The handle was a deep blue, long enough to be wielded with two hands.
In the left hand is a short, double-edged sword with a straight, long blade resembling a black root. The entire sword, including the handguard and grip, is a pure silver-white, like pristine ivory. Both edges of the sword are stained with the golden blood of the Void Ranger, who is slowly fading away.
"Roughly, nothing serious has happened yet. We have to thank the commander of the knights on our ship for reacting in time and intercepting part of the army from the outside. But sadly, some managed to slip through, and there were casualties." Klein held the staff in his hand, maintaining the energy barrier that covered one layer of the control zone and another layer around the entire space station.
"Hmm, do you know what their goal is?"
"Based on the information we have now, it's still unclear," Klein projected a hologram from his power, displaying a three-dimensional diagram of the space station and the points of conflict with the surrounding forces. "From what I see, the army is attacking the station from all directions, as if their only goal is to destroy this place. There's no plan, no pattern, just an all-out assault."
"no specific... Then Lord Ravager might not be here. Wait a minute... something is coming. Golden characters appeared in Austin's eyes once again. He turned to look out the other side, frowning in confusion. "Wyvern? Dragon?" No, it's the Doomsday Beast, and there isn't just one of them—there's a dozen, at least.
"Doomsday Beast!? What should we do? Arlan still hasn't come back." Asta's eyes widened upon hearing the name of the incoming entity. "The space station's shield won't hold against that, especially with so many of them. What should we do?"
"Mr. Austin, are you sure it's the Doomsday Beast?" Welt, who was nearby, interjected.
"You're right, we've had to clash with the Armies of Destruction many times, and it seems the Doomsday Beast is a weapon they like to use against us quite a bit. I'm sure it's it, you... uh?"
"He is Welt. Yang is a member of the Astral Express, shortly after you got off the train." Himeko introduced the man beside her to Austin. He observed the other person carefully from top to bottom before nodding slightly.
"The power of creation and the power of gravity, huh?" Austin whispered to himself softly. "Anyway, I will lead the Knight Brigade to Klein. You guard the territory and wait for my return."
"Wait, are you going to fight the Doomsday Beast?!" Asta asked in panic.
"Well, if we let them get here, it would be harder to stop them, right? So we have to make sure they don't get here at all~" Austin smirked confidently before sheathed the two swords in his hands and summoned a large, double-edged black sword, as dark as a shadow and trembling like a pitch-black flame, to rest on his shoulder instead. "It's fine; this isn't the first time anyway~."
"But... you are an important guest. If you have to take a risk because of us—" Before Astha could finish her sentence, Austin reached out and lightly flicked her forehead to ease her nervousness and anxiety.
"Come on, 'Protection' is the first commandment of the Abyss Domain Hero, especially with a beautiful lady like this." Austin grinned widely, unfazed by the approaching enemies, and winked playfully at Asta, making her blush even more. Himiko and Klein, witnessing the scene, could only think to themselves, 'This is so typical of Austin.'
"Then see you later, Chief Researcher~."
"Will he come back, right?" Himeko asked, following the young man with concern.
"If Lord Ravager didn't come with two people at once, I don't think I would lose~." Austin turned to smile before disappearing again.
"I hope everything will be okay," Himeko continued to show her concern, even though she knew a bit about Austin's abilities.
"Don't worry, Ms. Himeko, His Majesty won't lose to just a few Doomsday Beasts," Klein said, looking towards the distant space where the Doomsday Beasts were heading.
The silver light shone brightly, streaking across the sea of stars along with countless small lights. Austin spread his three pairs of feathered wings formed from the silver light, pointing his pitch-black sword towards the Doomsday Beasts, the six of them, along with the Templar knights in black armor and silver-blue cloaks, who had a pair of silver wings each, standing in line behind him.
"Leave the four in front of me. The rest, I'll leave to you." Austin glanced back at the two commanders behind him.
"i hear and obey, word of the Sole King." As soon as they gave the order, Austin charged towards the Doomsday Beast in front of him. A dome of impenetrable black energy was spread out, covering him and the four beasts.
"Alright, let's finish this quickly," Austin flicked his sword, creating a wave of black energy that shot towards the Doomsday Beast.
"There's no need to rush~" A familiar voice echoed throughout the dome. A figure appeared before the wave of swords. With just a gesture of his hand, he easily shattered the wave of swords.
Amethyst eyes beneath a white fox mask stared at Austin as the Doomday Beast behind him was shackled by thin neon purple chains. Snow-white hair with a hint of purple fluttered with the impact when the wave of the sword shattered.
"Everything has its steps and must be handled with utmost caution; didn't you tell me that yourself?" Death Star snapped his fingers lightly, and the chains binding the Doomsday Beast's body shone, exploding three of them. Only the one at the very front remained unscathed.
"..." Austin looked at the scene before him with unwavering silence.
"I'm sorry, I initially thought these guys would come one at a time; who would have thought they'd come in droves like this~, but I can't just let them all get killed, you understand, right? The script is like this~"
"*Sigh~* If it comes down to a fight, then stop talking so much." Austin sighed before pointing the tip of his sword at the Death Star. "No need to ramble about scripts; no need to pretend to talk about things I've heard hundreds of times." His eyes turned pitch black,
'The Five Transformations of the Jade Heart: The First, the Heart of the Abyss.' Black marks resembling shadowy roots spread across Austin's body to his cheeks. "If you're going to fight, then come on!"
Death Star smirked and brought up a golden cube adorned with intricate patterns. "Divine Gold Foundation Armor." It emitted a soft glow and broke apart into small pieces that adorned and covered his entire body.
'The Five Transformations of the Jade Heart: The Second Transformation, the Heart of the Wilderness' Austin's eyes changed once more, forming white patterns on his irises that spread around, turning his eyes silver-white and his sclera black. White veins intertwined with black spots, covering Austin's body like roots embracing him.
'The Five Transformations of the Jade Heart: The Third Heart of the Horizon' The marks of gears and clock hands appeared on Austin's eyes, along with a birthmark resembling a cracked mirror on his body, combining to resemble the scales on the skin of reptiles.
"Hey, hey, hey, you changed your heart three times, huh~. Well, considering your power level in this diminished state, if you don't boost your power like this, it wouldn't be very entertaining, would it? Alright, I'll give you some airtime then~."
'The Five Transformations of the Jade Heart: The Fourth Heart of Solar Ash' The halo-shaped ring formed by the combination of various elements, which consist of the four basic elements (gold, frost, fire, wind), becomes a turbulent ring behind Austin's wings, like a storm of chaos in the primordial times.
"Divine Gold Foundation Armor." Austin wasn't done yet; he was ready to summon the Divine Golden Base Armor.
"Looking a bit more presentable~" Death Star smirked under his helmet, like a beast, drawing out two chained daggers.
The black-and-white and amethyst eyes stared at each other without blinking, as if testing the other. "Watch out, don't die on me!!!" they both said simultaneously and charged at each other with weapons in hand.
Back at the Herta Space Station, even though Austin led part of the knights to intercept the Doomsday Beast, the anti-matter army continued to attack the space station relentlessly.
That the situation hasn't worsened further is partly thanks to the railway team members who have been providing assistance, and Klein who has been maintaining the energy shield over the main control center and the space station.
Although the outer energy barrier covering the entire station couldn't stop the army completely, he was able to seal the army's movements and protect the people within the barrier's range.
The inner energy barrier, which covers the main control center, focuses on healing the wounds of the people inside. It is also much stronger than the outer layer, making it impossible for the army to breach.
But the attacks have come in waves for over dozens of times now. Activating the energy shield, even though it is not very extensive, gradually weakens the power with every passing second. The more injured people there are to treat, the faster the energy depletes.
'The jade heart is variable!? And it even varies to the fourth degree. There are only a few who can make His Majesty use it. What on earth happened..?' Klein widened his eyes slightly in surprise and turned towards the direction Austin had flown off to, puzzled.
"Excuse me, Ms. Asta, have there been any groups of Stellaron hunters coming through this area recently?"
"Stellaron... Hunter... why are you asking me this?"
"Answer my question, please." Kline's tone slightly changed, becoming more aggressive than before. The relaxed expression that had been there, even though he said he was starting to run out of strength, disappeared, replaced by a worried frown.
"U-...up until now, there hasn't been any, but the possibility that they could sneak in without us knowing is not zero." The more she heard Astra Klein's answer, the more serious her expression became, completely changing the atmosphere around her.
"Is there something we need to worry about regarding the Stellaron Hunter, Mr. Moriarty?" Welt stepped forward and asked for an explanation upon seeing the concern on Klein's face.
"The deeper details of this matter are internal to the Abyss Domain, so I cannot disclose them to you. However, just a moment ago, Your Majesty's power surged significantly. Even against the Doomsday Beast, you wouldn't need to exert so much power. This means there is an enemy outside who is much stronger than we know."
"But that could be Lord Ravager, it doesn't necessarily have to be a Stellaron Hunter," Himeko said.
"Maybe. I can clearly sense that there are no emanators out there. And over the years, even though we have faced many enemies, apart from the emanator, there is only one person who has forced His Majesty to use such power. He is a member of the Stellaron Hunters who appeared a few years ago, Death Star."
"*Huh!!!* The Stellaron Hunter who is said to be the strongest and the most ruthless, is that the one?" Suddenly, a voice that hadn't been part of the conversation chimed in from the other side.
The owner of the voice is March 7th, a member of the Express crew who went out to help the head of security. Next to her is Dan Heng, another member of the train crew who went out with March.
Behind them, there were two more people. One was the head of security who had marched out to find Arlan. He was a small, dark-skinned man with pink eyes, ash-white and jet-black hair at the ends tied up. His hair was tied in a small ponytail at the nape of his neck. He wore a white security uniform and blue pants.
And the other person next to her was the young woman that Silver Wolf had brought out from the Ether Editing in front of Kafka and Death Star. "Stellarons Hunter... huh...?" She repeated the words she had accidentally heard from Klein earlier, as if trying to recall something.
"Wait, what do you mean the Death Star is here? Don't tell me the army attacked the station because of that guy."
"Ms. March, I understand your concern, but if that person really intended to destroy this space station, it would have been nothing but debris by now. There's no need for such indirect methods."
"It seems you know this Death Star very well," Welt commented, but Kline didn't respond.
Just looking outside, trying to use the power of his eyes to observe the situation, but since Austin had set up a barrier around him, apart from the aura of power emanating from him, he couldn't see anything at all.