At this moment, the other protagonist in that subspace was Qlipoth.
He seemed utterly unmoved by everything happening around Him, continuing His work with the same steady rhythm.
But Kallen noticed it. The cadence of those hammer blows had changed—just slightly, but unmistakably.
So even if He showed nothing on the surface, He was still paying attention to her.
Still, if Qlipoth was in no hurry, then neither was she. She would take the chance to prepare a little more.
Unlike Kiana, who had once challenged Nanook head-on in the Simulated Universe, where she had only faced a simulated Aeon—and where, even if Nanook's gaze truly fell upon her, her life had never been in real danger—this was different.
Far more dangerous.
Because this was the first time Kallen had ever faced a god in the real world. If anything went wrong, this identity might truly be destroyed.
Of course, Kallen had already achieved wealth beyond measure. Even if this identity were ruined, she could simply go buy a few more max-level accounts.
But it would not be the same.
This was the only fully developed villain account she currently had, stacked with so many achievements. If it were destroyed now, what a waste that would be.
So since Qlipoth had no intention of taking the initiative, she naturally had to make a few more preparations of her own.
Kallen took a step forward.
The black-violet hem of her dress swept out behind her in a smooth arc, standing in stark contrast to the amber-colored ground beneath her feet.
The mists of Nihility poured from her body like a rising tide.
Then she raised Judah once more.
"Judah the Oath, Zeroth Rated Power—God's Grace Barrier!"
In an instant, the barrier called Divine Grace sealed off this subspace of Preservation.
At once, everything connected to the Path—including Kallen herself—was suppressed.
The starships suspended in the void, the broadcasting equipment intended for the livestream, even the energy ripples created by Qlipoth's hammer strikes—
all of it slowed, all of it froze beneath the barrier's dominion.
"That's impossible…"
Far away, the senior IPC figures watching through special channels all but leapt to their feet at the same time.
They could not feel the true state of the subspace, but they could see the image clearly enough.
And in that image, Qlipoth's rhythm had visibly changed.
No longer the steady, unchanging:
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
But—
Bang.
…Bang.
...…Bang.
The interval between each strike grew longer and longer, as if some force were interfering with His rhythm.
"She's interfering with an Aeon?" Far away, racing desperately toward Pier Point, Taravan's voice cracked.
As an Emanator of Preservation, he naturally shared a special connection with that Path.
And right now, with Qlipoth's authority sealed by half, he—though outside the barrier—had likewise lost half of his own authority as an Emanator of Preservation.
Such power. Such a weapon.
Could it really be that this witch dared to rebel against the Amber Lord Himself?
"Madwoman," Taravan muttered. "This woman is truly insane."
Diamond did not refute him.
Because he knew Taravan was right.
If Kallen had merely declared, in words alone, that she intended to defile Preservation, the company might still have been able to salvage the situation with skillful public relations.
But now, she was doing it.
With her actions, she was proving to the entire galaxy that every word she had spoken had been true.
If she actually succeeded and then walked away alive—
the IPC's reputation would suffer damage beyond repair.
Still, there was one thing that gave Diamond a sliver of satisfaction.
Oswaldo was dead.
Which meant no one in the company remained to challenge him for that coveted board seat.
Thinking about it now, Oswaldo had actually been rather considerate. It should have been Diamond handling negotiations with Kallen in Penacony—yet somehow, the man had ended up shielding him from disaster instead.
Yes. When he had the time, Diamond decided, he would certainly burn Oswaldo a few extra stacks of paper money.
But Kallen had no mind for any of that.
Though she had indeed sealed half of the authority of the Aeon of Preservation—
a feat that perhaps even other Aeons might have struggled to accomplish—
it still was not enough.
Or rather, not nearly enough.
Because now she, too, could no longer use any Path authority at all.
She could only rely on Honkai energy.
And with Honkai energy alone, Kallen was still far weaker than when fighting with full access to her Path.
So in the face of an existence like a star god, even Judah's absurdly overpowered mechanics could not truly overturn the battle.
Then again, she had never expected Judah to completely seal the Amber Lord in the first place.
"Just as expected of an Aeon," Kallen murmured.
Even suppressed. Even beneath the pressure of God's Grace Barrier. Even with most of His Path energy locked away—
Qlipoth's existence alone was still enough to shake this space.
This was not a matter of strength.
It was a matter of ontological rank.
Judah's outrageous mechanics allowed her to touch the domain of a star god.
But if she truly wanted to shake one, she would need more.
Still—
Kallen raised a hand, and black mist gathered in her palm.
"I don't need to defeat you."
The instant the words fell, the aura of Nihility around her erupted to its peak.
And take note:
this was not Path energy.
This was Nihility-infused Honkai energy.
And if one absolutely insisted on asking why—
there was only one answer:
Because Honkai energy could do anything.
At last, Qlipoth moved.
He raised that great hammer of Preservation and brought it down upon Kallen.
A supreme normal attack.
Kallen's expression turned grave.
No matter how many preparations she had made, when she truly stood before an Aeon, she was still nervous.
The next instant, Qlipoth's attack descended, and Kallen braced Judah and met it head-on in the most direct way possible—with her physical body alone.
Boom!
A roar that shook heaven and earth rang out as amber energy and black-violet Nihility crashed together within the subspace.
Kallen's skirts tore apart. Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.
But she was still standing.
She coughed softly, wiping the blood from her lips.
To be honest, her state was not good.
Even with all her preparations, even against what was only a basic strike from Qlipoth, half her health had vanished in an instant.
The numbers on these star gods were truly absurd.
Then she lowered her gaze to inspect her status panel.
Preservation Resistance: 50.01%… 52.37%… 53.42%…
Still increasing.
That strike had been much stronger than the one at Penacony, but the growth rate had slowed.
So the limit of her adaptation truly began at the fifty-percent threshold.
Once she passed fifty percent, every further increase became exponentially more difficult.
Still, it was far more efficient than letting Oswaldo hit her.
As expected.
The best way in this world to grind up your resistance was to let an Aeon personally smash you.
Kallen raised her head and looked toward that figure so vast it defied language.
"Second hit."
Her voice echoed through the subspace with a calmness even she herself had not anticipated.
Once again, an amber torrent poured down—this time fiercer, faster, more violent.
Qlipoth seemed to be taking her seriously now.
The arc of that descending hammer carried the primordial essence of Preservation—not protection, but fortification.
A wall.
A barrier raised against all things. Impassable. Absolute.
Kallen charged into it again.
Judah unfolded before her, twelve lances fanning outward, each spear tip wrapped in black-violet Nihility mist.
She did not dodge.
She met it head-on.
Boom!
The second impact roared through the void.
But this time Kallen did not fall back. She seemed to stick to the hammer itself, while Judah's lances pierced into Qlipoth's body.
Preservation Resistance: 53.42%… 54.18%… 55.03%…
But at this rate, all she could do was passively endure. She still could not deal any real damage to Qlipoth.
"Activate skill: Traitor's Backstab!"
The moment the skill took effect, the aftermath of the collision rippled wildly through the subspace, amber shockwaves spreading outward in rings as they clashed and devoured the black-violet mist of Nihility.
Kallen gripped Judah tightly.
Its twelve lances were sunk deep into Qlipoth's body.
Preservation Resistance: 55.03%… 55.67%… 56.21%…
The resistance was still climbing.
But her body was at its limit.
Qlipoth's great hammer pressed down atop Judah, amber force crashing over her like billions upon billions of tons, forcing her spine lower and lower.
She coughed again, and another mouthful of blood escaped.
The black-violet mist around her flickered weakly now, like a candle on the verge of going out.
But she had already succeeded.
The twelve lances of Judah remained embedded deep in Qlipoth's body, Nihility flowing through them and corroding that vast existence made of pure Preservation.
After Qlipoth struck several more times—
Traitor's Backstab finally completed its effect.
The description had not lied.
It truly was a "backstab sufficient to decide the course of battle."
At last, Kallen's strength gave out completely. After weathering several of Qlipoth's strikes in succession, she could no longer hold on and dropped to one knee.
Even so, her objective had already been achieved.
Qlipoth lowered His head.
He looked at His own body.
And on that immeasurable form, a new scar had appeared.
A black scar.
An imprint of Nihility.
It was not large, relative to His immense scale—hardly enough to ruin His looks, one might say.
But it was there.
And not insignificant, either.
In all that pure amber, it was like a single drop of ink fallen onto white paper.
It could not be erased.
It could not be purified.
It would remain there.
On Qlipoth's body.
On the Path of Preservation itself.
Kallen coughed again.
This time, she truly could not go on. Forget fighting Qlipoth further—she could barely move at all.
So this was it. Was this identity going to be scrapped after all?
With that thought, she looked up at Qlipoth again.
Yet Qlipoth merely glanced once at the black scar on His body—
and made no further move.
Huh?
Could it be that Qlipoth intended to spare her?
After all, this identity of hers had indeed been formed from one of Qlipoth's cast-off shells.
Though He had shed that shell because of Nihility, from a certain point of view, she still counted as a part of Him.
Could it be that Qlipoth felt some faint trace of guilt toward her?
All right, Kallen admitted that might be wishful thinking.
Still, she could not move anyway. Life or death—she had prepared herself for both.
A moment later, Qlipoth moved again.
He raised the great hammer of Preservation once more.
But this time, His target was not Kallen.
You. Leave.
The words fell.
Then Qlipoth finally acted.
At once, God's Grace Barrier collapsed, and the full authority of Preservation returned to its peak.
Then all the starships surrounding the subspace—the very ships responsible for this broadcast—were struck down.
Kallen's expression sharpened at once.
From the look of it…
had she actually guessed correctly?
Qlipoth truly had no intention of pursuing her to the end?
If so, that was perfect.
She had already made an enormous profit here. If she could even preserve this Kallen identity on top of that, then all the better.
So she fixed her gaze on Qlipoth, trying to see what He intended next.
But He did nothing.
He simply raised His hammer once more, returned to His station, and resumed His day-after-day, year-after-year labor of striking away at the cosmos.
Kallen suddenly felt a strangely subtle emotion.
Still, she quickly steadied herself.
Alive was good enough.
According to her original script, this identity had probably been meant to die here.
To walk away alive after enduring the attacks of a star god—this was already the best possible ending.
As for why Qlipoth had chosen not to kill her—
Kallen had no intention of digging too deeply into that for now.
She tried to stand. Her legs were weak, every muscle in her body protesting. Those two blows from Qlipoth, though she had endured them, had nearly torn her entire body apart.
In her current state, if even an Emanator—or perhaps just a top-tier Pathstrider—showed up, there was a very real chance they could finish her off.
Fortunately, before this livestream began, Kallen had already had the company clear out all of Pier Point.
Even if someone were rushing here at top speed, she would be long gone by then.
Preservation Resistance: 63.21%
The number on her panel was still ticking upward slowly.
Not bad.
She had lived.
That was enough.
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 165)
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 (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
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 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
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 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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