Abzu.
Observed from the ground or from orbit, it was already a suffocatingly massive shadow.
But only by truly arriving in this boundless deep space, facing it with one's own minuscule scale, could one comprehend the... "scale of existence" that transcended linguistic description.
It was not a regular sphere, but more like a living, malformed asteroid.
Its main body was composed of an unknown substance that seemed to absorb all light. Its surface was covered with constantly trembling and opening rocky folds and clusters of purple-black crystals, like a celestial body's surface growing countless malicious eyes and mouthparts.
Giant tentacles or limbs, some thousands of kilometers long and somewhere between a solid and an energetic state, snaked out from its irregular body, swaying lazily.
Each slight movement of these limbs caused visible distortions in the gravitational lines of the surrounding space, pulling distant starlight into grotesque arcs.
Its volume was sufficient to easily envelop the moon in its shadow.
The mere unconscious ripples of gravity it emitted formed a turbulent force field capable of tearing apart conventional warships.
It hung there, not like a "creature."
It was a living... abyss that had descended before this world.
It was a greedy "maw" slowly opening, preparing to incorporate the entire planetary system within it.
And on the side of this despairingly magnificent body, a "scar" completely different from the surrounding ancient folds and crystals caught "Shu's" eye.
It was a long, narrow, deep tear-like wound. At its edge, a lingering energy, which Shu felt inexplicably familiar with, was preventing the wound from healing.
It was as if "existence" there had been briefly "negated" or "erased" by some extremely pure conceptual power.
The shockwave from the out-of-control White Cell domain...
"Shu" immediately understood what it was.
It was the out-of-control "White Cell" mimicry attack from their deathmatch in Antarctica.
Could the aftershock that had luckily broken through the atmosphere and flown into deep space leave such a clear mark on the body of this Planetary-class Honkai Beast?
So, was this a hope for victory?
Hmm, indeed.
After all, the probability of a human being killed by a single pencil isn't zero.
This both demonstrated the extremity of the rules contained in that attack and, in contrast, highlighted the terror of Abzu's main body.
Such a blow had merely left a "superficial wound."
Just then, on Abzu's body covered with "eyes," it seemed that more "gazes" were focusing.
It "noticed" this tiny existence before it, and also "noticed" the point of light on this ant's body that emitted an aura making its wound ache faintly.
Abzu did not roar in offense, nor did it roar in preparation.
Just a small limb tip, still tens of thousands of kilometers away from "Shu," lit up slightly.
In the next moment—
HUMMM——————!
An indescribable roar swept through the entire cislunar space.
Centering on that limb, space itself became like a drumhead being violently beaten. Visible purple-black energy ripples began to spread wildly in spherical layers.
Wherever these ripples passed, small specks of space dust were directly vaporized, and more distant floating meteorites silently turned to dust!
And the moon, being the closest, bore the brunt!
RUMBLE—!
The moment the energy ripples swept across the side of the moon facing Abzu, a global-scale, violent earthquake occurred on its surface.
Craters collapsed, and the lunar soil churned like ocean waves.
A through-and-through crack, almost tearing the moon in two, suddenly opened on the lunar crust along the path of the energy impact.
Countless giant rocks were ejected into space. The moon was as fragile as a cracked egg, on the verge of disintegration in an instant!
And this was merely the aftershock before the attack had even condensed!
"Shu" witnessed everything, but he had no time for shock, no time for fear.
Hands tightly gripping the scepter of seven-colored flowing light, Shu raised it high, like a lone soldier raising the commander's banner before a mighty army.
"Cease."
The dreamlike radiance at the top of the scepter suddenly spread out, turning into an incredibly soft curtain of light, gently brushing past the violent spatial ripples with him at its center.
What happened next was like a miracle.
The destructive energy aftershock, powerful enough to tear the moon apart, seemed to have its fur smoothed like a rampaging beast the moment it touched this seven-colored light curtain.
The chaotic energy was combed and calmed, returning to nothingness.
The spreading ripples rapidly weakened and dissipated into the void.
Immediately after, "Shu" pointed the scepter at the cracking moon.
"Restore."
This was a much more mentally draining edict.
The seven-colored light shed its gentleness from when it had dissipated the ripples, turning into countless extremely fine and precise "colored threads." They spanned hundreds of thousands of kilometers, stitching the broken moon back together.
The ejected giant rocks were pulled back by an invisible force. The terrifying through-and-through crack was forcibly closed by the threads of light, like the most skilled surgery.
Under the power of rule-level forces, the broken lunar crust was pieced back together, defying common physical sense.
After doing all this, "Shu's" aura visibly weakened. The spread of cracks on his vitrified body didn't accelerate, but his light had clearly dimmed a few shades.
Repairing a satellite... was far more difficult than simply and crudely destroying it.
However, Abzu's attack had only just truly arrived.
At the tip of that limb, the condensed purple-black light had turned into a miniature black hole that swallowed light.
Then, a stream of purple-black energy, condensed to the extreme, only about a hundred meters thick yet seemingly containing the fury of an entire planet, shot out silently!
Wherever it passed, it left only a black trajectory where even nothingness seemed not to exist.
But "Shu" never doubted that this slender beam of light could turn him and the myriad of lights behind him into cosmic dust.
"Shu" gritted his teeth, pouring all the [Hope] and Honkai energy he could muster into the scepter without reservation.
The seven-colored light blazed with unprecedented intensity, forming the ultimate shield before him, flowing with countless dreams and possibilities.
The torrent and the shield of light crashed into each other in the silent space!
No sound came from space, only the clash of light and shadow of two diametrically opposed "existences" could be glimpsed by an observer!
One second.
Two seconds.
Crack...
The subtle cracking sound seemed to resonate through his soul.
The first crack appeared at the top of the Scepter of the Event Horizon.
Then the second, the third... countless cracks!
"Shu's" arms trembled violently, and the vitrified cracks instantly covered his entire body!
"Urrgh AAAAAHHHH—!!!"
He let out a silent scream, squeezing every bit of strength from the depths of his soul, trying to maintain that shield on the verge of shattering.
But the gap was too large.
So large it was despairing.
BANG—CRASH!!!!
The Scepter of Seven Colors, this crystallization carrying the dreams of Sirin and countless children, shattered completely! It turned into a sky full of crystal fragments that had lost their luster.
Losing the final barrier, that torrent of destruction solidly engulfed the right half of "Shu's" body.