Only a small portion of the Smart Insects remained behind to guard the planet's core.
Almost all the rest surged upward.
That was what had caused the earlier scene—
the earth splitting open to swallow the Doomsday Beasts, grinding them apart before spewing forth endless shrieking insects.
We're innocent, sir! Truly innocent! We're not with that rebel!
They were panicking for real.
Although the Grand Theatre had begun showing signs of insectification, it was still one of Harmony's Thousand Manifestations.
In the end, the concept of the Swarm still belonged to Xipe.
And Harmony accepted all things.
Compared to that, accepting an insect-tainted theatre was a trivial matter.
After Propagation's brief "resurrection" faded back into silence, Harmony's power once more sealed the torn conceptual gap.
The Grand Theatre returned to Harmony's sequence.
In truth, the entire revival of Propagation had lasted only an instant.
A brief ripple.
Nothing more.
Then the battlefield began revealing something strange.
The Family, the insect swarm, and the Antimatter Legion gradually noticed the same pattern.
When Family members attacked the insects—the damage was nullified.
When Family attacks accidentally struck the Legion—the Legion took full damage.
When the Legion attacked the insects—the damage was nullified.
When the Legion launched indiscriminate attacks or caused friendly fire—the insects were unharmed, the Family was unharmed, and only the Legion suffered casualties.
When the insects attacked the Legion—their strikes landed perfectly.
When insects accidentally hit Family members—the damage was nullified.
After several exchanges, the truth became impossible to ignore.
Both the Family and the Legion realized something was deeply wrong.
Especially the Legion.
The Antimatter Legion wanted to howl in frustration.
Fine. The Family having invincibility cheats makes sense.
They're blessed by Harmony.
But where did these bugs get invincibility cheats too?!
Two enemies on the field.
Both immune.
What now?
Asking online. Urgent.
The Family envoy was no less stunned.
"Am I seeing things?"
"Why do I sense the power of the Aeon on these insects?"
After tuning and observing them more closely, he reached a shocking conclusion.
These insects were genuinely under Xipe's protection.
Once every impossible explanation had been eliminated, whatever remained—no matter how absurd—had to be the truth.
His expression became indescribably complicated.
Never in his life had he imagined he would one day become family with insects.
And so the battle shifted again.
Now the Family and the swarm fought side by side against the Antimatter Legion.
After all, they were facing one of the Three Great Disasters.
At that point, who attacked whom hardly mattered.
The Harbinger of Calamity personally entered the battlefield.
Since retreat was no longer possible, he chose to commit everything.
More than five hundred million void soldiers were present.
Even if the enemy could not be harmed, they could still be buried under endless attrition.
Even slaughtering five hundred million pigs would take time.
To the Legion, the only true threat remained the Grand Theatre.
But now—
it had gone silent.
One Harbinger engaged the Family envoy directly.
The planet's natives were beneath notice. Most were ordinary civilians, and only a handful had barely stepped onto the Path of Harmony.
The envoy's own delegation had no chance of breaking through such overwhelming numbers.
At the same time—
one Harbinger moved to destroy the dormant Grand Theatre.
Another launched an attack against the planet itself.
The Harbinger almost felt relieved.
Thankfully, whatever blessing threshold Harmony had established did not seem to apply to him.
Otherwise, he might have been slowly ground to death without hope of resistance.
There was still a path to victory.
Destroy the theatre.
Or complete the planetary strike.
Either result would fulfill Lord Starcrusher's mission.
The Family envoy saw the danger and grew anxious.
He could barely hold back one planet-destroying Harbinger.
There were several.
Then—
the Grand Theatre moved.
Even with the audience that powered it long scattered, it had somehow reactivated.
The envoy had no idea why.
He immediately dropped into prayer.
"O Lord of Harmony!"
"Your gaze has awakened the sleeping theatre!"
"Evildoers run rampant and defile this sacred land!"
"Please descend in divine majesty!"
"Command the giants who uphold this hall!"
Then he performed a ritual gesture.
"O Voice of Harmony, herald of the Gospel—"
"In the name of the Family, arise!"
Boss Phase Two: activate!
The Harbinger turned back sharply.
The theatre really was moving—
just not in the way the envoy expected.
"O Voice of Harmony, herald of the Gospel—
in the name of the Family, arise!"
The theatre remained motionless.
Caw. Caw. Caw.
Imaginary crows flew overhead.
Boss Phase Two—
activation failed.
A theatre without an audience was worthless.
For once, the Harbinger laughed.
A cold, mocking laugh.
He said nothing.
But the envoy could practically hear the taunt.
Go on, then.
Hit me if you can.
The envoy clenched his fists.
Then—
a small insect poked its head out from inside the theatre.
"Shh—ha?"
(Is this how you do it?)
The insect was imitating the envoy's ritual.
The audience seats were no longer empty.
They were packed with Smart Insects.
Not the sparse ten thousand from before—
but millions upon millions, crammed together in dense rows.
They had been watching the envoy from underground this entire time.
Now they were copying everything.
They did not understand the finer details.
But in their opinion—
close enough.
At the ruined center stage, one insect twisted awkwardly.
Its wings fluttered.
Its limbs waved.
Its mandibles clicked.
"Shh—ha—shh—ha—shhahaha—"
(Great Harmony, great divine lord, evil invaders threaten our Family. Please allow us to borrow your power.)
"Shh—ha—shh—ha—"
(Please descend in divine majesty and command the giants who uphold this hall.)
"Shh—ha—shhhhh—"
(Voice of Harmony, herald of the Gospel—in the name of the Family, arise!)
Millions of insects echoed the shrill cry in perfect unison.
The collapsed pillars of the theatre rose once more into the sky.
The Family envoy stared in utter disbelief.
What the hell?
"When did insects start stealing our jobs?"
"If you're the tuner… then what am I?!"
The Smart Insects replied in silent unity.
Open your eyes.
Look carefully.
Who is the tuner now?
The Grand Theatre regenerated.
Then it expanded.
Every time a new empty seat appeared, another insect crawled up from underground to fill it.
The theatre grew larger and larger.
And Constantina's power rose with it.
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