Life on Izumo had been far too comfortable in these past few years, to the point that Lucian was so idle he was nearly about to grow mushrooms from boredom.
As it turned out, as if knowing that he had been idle for too long, trouble decided to come knocking on its own.
===
On one particularly comfortable noon, Lucian was sprawled across an absurdly comfortable sofa in the living room, half-asleep.
Mei stood nearby, quietly trimming a potted plant.
Kiana lay face down on the other sofa, playing a co-op mobile game on her phone together with Senti remotely.
In this peaceful atmosphere, just as Lucian was about to fall fully asleep—
*BOOM!*
A thunderous roar suddenly came from high above, causing Lucian to snap his eyes open and look up.
He narrowed his eyes as he felt the aura above was far too familiar, then began fumbling through his memories until he arrived at an answer: Stellaron.
Yes.
It was the aura of a Stellaron, and not just any Stellaron, but the one he had once sealed on Jarilo-VI in reality.
'Who would've thought moving Izumo over here would end up blocking a disaster for Jarilo instead?'
Lucian couldn't help but smile wryly as he realized that the Stellaron that was supposed to fall into Jarilo-VI had instead fallen into Izumo.
Was this his karmic tie with Jarilo-VI?
"Kiana, bring that shining meteor over here."
Lucian ordered Kiana calmly while still lying on the sofa, gesturing toward the sky with his chin.
"Got it!"
Kiana immediately put down her phone, then tore open space directly before her and reached inside.
In the sky, along the path of the Stellaron's fall, a golden space rift appeared, from which Kiana's bare arm emerged.
As the Stellaron passed, Kiana's hand casually grabbed it, then—
*BANG!*
In an instant, a dull explosion sound echoed through the sky as the Stellaron was suddenly grabbed by Kiana.
A few moments later, when the Stellaron finally ceased its struggle, Kiana pulled her hand back, the now-calm Stellaron clenched firmly in her grasp.
"Master, what's this thing?"
Kiana sat down beside Lucian, leaned her head against his shoulder, and casually handed the Stellaron to him.
"It's a Stellaron... Well, simply put, it's something that can destroy civilizations," Lucian replied calmly while inspecting the golden stone in his hand. "If you don't like someone, just toss it into their home, and the Antimatter Legion will come knocking at their door."
"Antimatter Legion?" Mei chimed in as she walked over, glancing at the Stellaron in Lucian's hand. "Then this Stellaron appearing here means—"
*Beep-Beep!* *Beep-Beep!* *Beep-Beep!*
Before Mei could finish her words, the communication device on the table in front of the sofa began beeping.
Lucian pressed the receive button on the device, then spoke up.
"What's up?"
[Kyuusyou: Boss, the Antimatter Legion you told us about has suddenly appeared near Izumo's atmosphere! Massive numbers! They're attacking Sirin's spatial barrier!]
[Sirin: Boss, they've got three Doomsday Beasts. I want to go kill them!]
Izumo had a spatial barrier covering it, essentially a protective shield created by Sirin's Sky, so if the Antimatter Legion wanted to enter, they would first have to break through it.
Lucian raised his head, narrowed his eyes, and tried to pierce the atmosphere with his gaze.
Soon enough, he saw the Antimatter Legion beyond the planet, countless in number—the scene looked like hundreds of millions of gnats swarming around a single nut.
After gazing at them for a while, Lucian ultimately shrugged and withdrew his gaze.
"Nah, don't bother with them," Lucian said casually, his voice sounding nonchalant. "Believe me, they'll die on their own in a bit."
Hearing how nonchalant their leader was, all the guardians on the other end of the call immediately stopped worrying.
It was understandable.
During the years under his rule, it was not as though they had never faced invasions of this scale before.
Besides, with him protecting Izumo, there was nothing to worry about.
At this moment, all the guardians couldn't help but admit that being protected by someone really did feel good.
===
Meanwhile, beyond Izumo, in a nearby star system, Celenova was commanding the Antimatter Legion that attacked Izumo from the rear as always, while simultaneously directing assaults against more than a dozen other civilizations.
For the Antimatter Legion, wherever a Stellaron landed, they attacked there, almost like rolling dice to randomly select a target for destruction.
"Hmm, this civilization is putting up a desperate resistance..."
Celenova muttered to herself as her attention could not help but be drawn to one particular planet—Izumo.
It was only natural.
While the other planets had all been invaded and occupied by the Antimatter Legion with ease, only this one planet had still not been breached, remaining essentially untouched.
"It's been a long time since I've encountered a strong civilization like this..."
Celenova did not bother with weak civilizations, as only those capable of resisting the Antimatter Legion's invasion were worth a second glance.
At present, one such planet was occupying most of her attention.
As an Emanator of Destruction who also possessed the power of Harmony, she could synchronize the troops of the Antimatter Legion, aligning their thoughts and actions, ensuring flawless coordination, and transmitting commands instantly with a single idea, allowing them to unleash three hundred percent of their combat effectiveness.
For this reason, Celenova rarely acted personally and preferred to command remotely from behind the scenes.
"All troops, focus all firepower on a single point. Break the barrier protecting that planet. Grant this civilization destruction…"
However, just after Celenova issued the command and the Antimatter Legion was about to launch a coordinated attack on Izumo, an unexpected incident occurred.
As the Voidrangers raised their Imaginary cannons and were about to fire, the cannon barrels suddenly exploded all at once.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!**BOOM!*
Like firecrackers, a chain reaction followed, blasting their nearby comrades into the void, with shattered bodies and severed limbs flying everywhere.
At the same time, not only did the space battleships buzzing overhead have their engines choke and die all at once, like toy cars with their power cut, but several of them also had their core furnaces explode without warning, causing firelight to spread.
Just like that, the Antimatter Legion suffered catastrophic casualties without any logical reason. And the most outrageous part was that, for reasons unknown, a beam of light soon fell directly into the center of the Antimatter Legion.
*BOOOM!*
Even Lucian in Izumo saw a brilliant flash in the sky piercing through the window, and then heard a dull explosion from space rushing toward his place.
"What the hell... Isn't that Lan's Sky-Shattering Lux Arrow?" Lucian said in surprise, then thought solemnly, 'So, the Law of Calamity's misfortune even includes attacks from the Aeons?'
Clearly, the Antimatter Legion really had a remarkable misfortune, as it blundered straight into a shot from the Aeon of the Hunt, Lan.
Sensing that the shockwave from the Sky-Shattering Lux Arrow was imminent, Lucian raised his hand and put up a powerful defensive barrier made of Imaginary energy that covered Sirin's spatial barrier, thereby blocking the oncoming shockwave.
A few seconds—literally just a few seconds—later, the Antimatter Legion that had been densely packed around Izumo moments ago was wiped clean, as if sucked away by a gigantic vacuum cleaner, leaving not even dust behind.
===
"Huh? That's it...? They really did just die on their own?"
In the command room of Shuten Castle, Himiko scratched her head in bewilderment as she stared at the now-empty space shown on the large monitor screen.
"Hmph, obviously," Sirin said as if it were a matter of fact, then rolled her eyes. "It's not like you don't know about the boss's curse. I have to admit, that curse is freaky as hell."
"Hu-hum!" Kyuusyou made a strange noise, then excitedly pushed up her monocle. "Our Savior of Light is displaying his divine might once again! As expected of our boss! Hahahaha!"
"Having someone strong to rely on really is not bad..."
Bianka remarked calmly with a relaxed smile, appearing completely unworried.
As for the others, they silently stared wide-eyed at the screen for a while before finally relaxing.
"Boss is awesome!"
Senti exclaimed as she raised her right fist, looking excited.
As for the one called Lan, whom Lucian had mentioned, they had no idea who that was and had never heard of THEM. No matter what, in their eyes, all the credit belonged to Lucian—their beloved boss.
===
Several seconds before Lan's arrow arrived, deep within a nearby star system, a fleet of spaceships large enough to form a small galaxy lay in ambush.
At the center of the fleet, Celenova, floating in space, could not help but frown as she watched the majority of her troops—who were supposed to attack Izumo—being inexplicably annihilated, their deaths both bizarre and varied.
"What happened? Who did this?"
Unfortunately, before Celenova could get an answer, a beam of light suddenly descended, erasing the remaining troops near Izumo entirely.
In that instant, she froze.
"Isn't that... the arrow of the Aeon of the Hunt...? Wait, is that planet home to followers of the Hunt?"
Aside from the Xianzhou Alliance, were there actually others who could call upon the Aeon of the Hunt for THEIR aid?
If that were the case, Lan was truly a very protective Aeon.
"Hmph, let's see how many times you can keep protecting them then."
Celenova, feeling irritated, was prepared to dispatch more troops to destroy Izumo, but before she could act, the spaceships surrounding her began to explode.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
[Alert! Unknown energy approaching!]
[Warning! Unknown attack! Unknown attack!]
Hearing the warning resounding throughout her fleet, Celenova was stunned and confused, since she had not sensed any energy fluctuations or any attack trajectory at all. If there truly had been powerful energy activity, she, as an Emanator, would have detected it.
Before Celenova could figure out what had happened, the previously empty stretch of space ahead of her fleet twisted without warning in an extremely bizarre manner, then—
*BANG!*
A massive, dull collision resounded explosively!
Celenova vaguely saw something flickering as it approached, and as she looked closer, it appeared to be a ridiculously flashy kiddie ride.
'Is that... a kiddie ride?'
For the first time in her life as a Lord Ravager, Celenova couldn't help but question her own sight and sanity.
"HaHaHaHaHaHa~!"
*BANG!**BANG!**BANG!**BANG!*
Along with a deranged-sounding laugh that resounded throughout the vast space, the kiddie ride sped through Celenova's fleet, causing countless spaceships, Voidrangers, and Doomsday Beasts along its path to be smashed out of existence.
In just seconds, the kiddie ride arrived before Celenova, whose eyes widened in disbelief.
Seeing that the kiddie ride was about to hit her, Celenova instinctively gathered the power of Destruction to protect herself, but...
*BANG!*
Unfortunately, Celenova was still too slow and was sent flying by the overwhelming force of the kiddie ride, thrown about a hundred thousand light-years away, and smashed directly into a critically injured, near-death state.
What made it worse was that she did not even know who had struck her with that ridiculous kiddie ride.
"Hm? What was that? A speed bump in space?"
A voice filled with confusion and tinged with mockery spread through space like a massive stone hurled into still water.
"Who put a speed bump in front of Aha?"
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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