A blood moon hung suspended in the void, its dark red moonlight like congealed blood pouring over every inch of the Martial Arts Heavenly Capital.
The originally brilliant lights of the floating city appeared dim and lifeless under the blood moon's reflection. The Star Power in the air became abnormally violent, even beginning to warp toward a dark red hue, showing faint signs of being corroded by Abyss energy.
Inside the core sector, as the tremors grew more intense, debris from the ceiling above began to patter down.
Before long, the roar of the energy converters in the distance became chaotic and disorganized. Within the pale blue streams of Star Power, wisps of black Abyss mist were now intertwined.
Strangely, despite the blood moon covering the entire Martial Arts Heavenly Capital, the people surrounding Tendo and Caroline had suddenly thinned out. It was as if they had fallen into some kind of specialized space.
Soon, a thick mass of gray fog, moving like a living creature, began to roll and spread within the core sector.
Deep within the mist, pair after pair of crimson eyes lit up one after another.
They were a swarm of dark shadows existing between the virtual and the real. Their forms were warped and unstable; at times stretching into tentacles several meters long, at others curling into spheres covered in bone spikes. Their bodies were surrounded by Abyss energy so dense it nearly condensed into liquid droplets.
Every time a shadow breathed, it exhaled wisps of black fog. Wherever they passed, the Star Power in the air instantly became violent and turbulent, even emitting faint "sizzling" sounds of corrosion.
Such an eerie sight caused even Caroline to frown deeply. Large amounts of quantum data flashed through her eyes, and she quickly formed a judgment of the situation.
"It should be a subspace projection," Caroline spoke in a heavy voice. Her Mechanical Star Power suddenly surged, condensing a silver shield covered in precise patterns before her.
"These subspace projections are generated by the interaction between subspace and reality. Creatures existing in such boundary zones often possess a certain degree of 'immortality.'"
"Conventional attacks struggle to deal substantial damage to them. Instead, they often devour Star Power to strengthen themselves."
"We must precisely lock onto their energy cores, otherwise they will only grow stronger as we fight."
Before Caroline could finish her sentence, the foremost subspace projection struck first.
It suddenly transformed into a bolt of extremely fast black light, breaking through the mist. With a sharp whistling sound, it lunged toward Caroline.
The speed of this light far exceeded any previous member of the Abyss Organization. Where it passed, the air was forcibly torn apart, leaving a brief black trail. The metal floor along its path was even corroded into a fine groove.
But just as the black light was about to touch Caroline's silver-white mechanical shield, an invisible vector force field manifested between the two without warning.
It firmly pinned the unstoppable black light in mid-air. No matter how it struggled or twisted, it could not advance another inch.
"Caroline, leave this to me. Step aside."
Tendo's voice still carried its habitual laziness, as if the crisis before him was beneath mention. He didn't even move his feet; he simply raised his hand slightly.
In the next second, the subspace projection pinned in mid-air was torn apart by an invisible force, instantly bursting into a cloud of black mist.
Just as the mist was about to scatter and flee, it was firmly tethered by a wisp of invisible vector force field at Tendo's fingertip. Like iron filings drawn to a magnet, they converged together, eventually being forcibly compressed into a fist-sized black energy ball. Violent Abyss energy continued to churn within the sphere.
"Looks like I'll need to move around a bit today."
Tendo's tone was flat as he gave the sphere a gentle flick of his finger.
The black energy ball flew toward the depths of the mist like a cannonball, smashing through several wisps of black fog that tried to block it. Finally, it accurately struck another subspace projection that was just about to rush out of the mist.
Boom!
A dull, heavy explosion echoed through the core sector. The energy ball detonated instantly, sending a black shockwave outward that blew the subspace projection to smithereens. Even the surrounding gray mist was cleared away, revealing more crimson eyes behind it.
Seeing this, Caroline silently retreated more than ten steps, turning the battlefield entirely over to Tendo.
She knew very well that while these subspace projections—caught between reality and illusion with weird energy trajectories—were troublesome, they were nothing to Tendo, who possessed the "Star Eclipse Heavenly Eye."
Tendo could see through all falsehoods directly to their essence.
At the same time, whether it was a physical attack or an illusory energy flow, as long as a vector direction existed, it could never escape Tendo's control. This was also the most effective method for dealing with subspace projections.
The scattered mist quickly gathered again, and the crimson eyes within grew more numerous. Within a few short seconds, over a hundred had converged.
These subspace projections seemed to share a consciousness through some special method. Having perceived Tendo's strength, they no longer rushed in individually but slowly gathered toward the center.
During the process of converging, the black shadows merged with one another. Their size expanded continuously, finally forming a giant projection dozens of meters tall.
This giant projection was pitch-black as ink. Its surface was covered in eerie dark red patterns similar to the Broodmother's Hive in the Dead Bone Desert, with viscous Abyss energy flowing within the patterns.
Its head had no facial features, only two crimson eyes like miniature blood moons. It emitted a suffocating, terrifying pressure; merely by standing there, it caused the floor of the entire core sector to vibrate slightly.
"Roar!"
The giant projection opened its maw full of fangs and let out a dull roar that didn't sound like it could be produced by any living creature.
This roar was not a simple sound, but a sonic attack wrapped in dense Abyss energy. It swept toward Tendo like an invisible tidal wave.
Where the sound wave passed, the metal machinery on the floor began to twist violently and melt, emitting "sizzling" corrosion sounds. The impact was so great that even the space itself showed fine black cracks.
Facing this sonic attack, which was enough to instantly defeat a Third-Rank Star Envoy, Tendo's gaze merely sharpened. The vector force field around him suddenly surged. The force field shifted from invisible to visible, forming a semi-spherical transparent barrier covering a hundred-meter radius around him.
The surface of the barrier flowed with intricate energy patterns. When the sound wave slammed into the transparent shield, it triggered layer upon layer of energy ripples.
However, throughout this process, Tendo's vector barrier remained as steady as Mount Tai, without even the slightest tremor. All the impact force was skillfully guided by the vector force field into the ground, causing several fine cracks to open in the floor.
"Is this all you've got?"
Tendo gave a contemptuous smile. He lightly clenched his hand, making a gesture of reverse manipulation.
In the next second, a shocking scene occurred.
The sonic attack that had been sweeping toward the golden barrier actually changed its movement trajectory under the forced control of the vector field. Like water caught in a reverse current, it turned around and slammed back toward the giant projection itself.
The giant projection clearly hadn't anticipated this. Before it could make any defensive moves, it was hit hard by its own roar.
With a loud Boom, the giant projection's massive body was knocked back several steps. The eerie patterns on its surface that had been flashing red light instantly dimmed significantly. Some patterns even shattered outright, oozing black energy fluid.
Without waiting for the giant projection to stabilize itself, Tendo launched a counterattack.
He still didn't approach it. He simply raised his hand and pressed down toward the giant projection.
In an instant, countless invisible vector force fields condensed around the giant projection, then immediately transformed into sharp vector "threads."
These threads were densely packed, pouring down like a torrential rain toward the giant projection. Each one carried a sharp whistle that tore the air.
Even more subtly, every thread precisely locked onto the eerie patterns on the giant projection's body, avoiding the areas without patterns.
This was because Tendo "saw" the essence of those patterns clearly. They were the channels connecting the "projection" to the "Abyss energy." As long as these patterns were destroyed, its energy system would completely collapse.
Under Tendo's dense assault, the surface of the giant projection was sliced to pieces, and black energy fluid splashed everywhere.
The intense pain drove the giant projection into a complete frenzy. It threw its head back with a furious roar, its giant hands clenching tightly as the Abyss energy around it surged wildly. Finally, a "twisting maw" like a "black hole" condensed at its chest, emitting a terrifying suction force capable of devouring everything.
"Trying to pull me entirely into subspace?"
Tendo raised an eyebrow, a flash of disdain in his eyes. He was well aware of the dangers and complexities of subspace. But for this projection to try and use it against him was undeniably a case of "teaching a fish how to swim."
Tendo gave a casual wave of his hand. The vector force field around him began to compress rapidly, finally transforming into a vector light blade refined to the extreme.
The light blade was crescent-shaped. Although it looked slender, it emitted heart-stopping energy fluctuations.
In the next second, the light blade, which looked like "sword energy," shot out like a meteor piercing the night, accurately cleaving through the giant projection.
Squelch!
The vector light blade passed through the giant projection's waist without any resistance.
The giant projection's movements froze abruptly. It looked down in shock. Its upper body and lower body had been completely separated. The wall behind it had been cut through on the spot by Tendo like tofu.
Fortunately, this was not reality. Otherwise, Tendo's strike alone would have dealt significant damage to the core sector of the Martial Arts Heavenly Capital. It would have caused major problems for the city's operations for some time and resulted in massive economic losses.
Under Tendo's calm expression, the crimson eyes of the giant projection gradually dimmed. Its massive body began to disintegrate and dissipate bit by bit, finally turning into a sky full of black mist.
Without giving this mist a chance to reform, Tendo raised his hand and released a large-scale vector force field, firmly enveloping all the black mist. Then, the field contracted, forcibly devouring and annihilating the Abyss energy until it vanished into nothingness.
As the giant projection was completely annihilated, the surrounding gray mist lost its energy support and began to recede rapidly, dissipating into the air like a tide. The isolated spatial barrier also shattered with a faint hum.
Vanishing along with it was the blood moon above their heads. Clearly, they had returned to reality.
"Done."
Tendo slowly retracted the vector force field around him. He turned to look at Caroline, his tone as flat as if he had just settled a trivial matter.
Caroline walked forward, her gaze sweeping over the remaining black energy traces on the ground. These traces were fading fast and eventually disappeared completely.
"Tendo, it seems you've already got one foot in that realm."
"You should know that existence between the virtual and real, like a subspace projection, exists under extremely bizarre conditions."
"Even a Calamity-rank powerhouse would have to expend considerable effort to handle them, yet you finished it so easily."
Tendo gave a careless wave of his hand.
"They're just trash forcibly condensed using spatial rifts and Abyss energy. Although their energy cores are hidden, they're nothing to me."
As he spoke, he turned his gaze toward the entrance of the core sector.
At this moment, Jing Liuli, Chen Kong, An Qin, and a group of inspectors had broken through the obstructions at the entrance and rushed in. Seeing Tendo and Caroline unharmed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the anxiety on their faces instantly fading.
"Tendo, are you two all right?" Jing Liuli walked up quickly, her tone carrying a hint of undisguised worry.
"The core sector was suddenly enveloped by a weird spatial barrier. We tried all sorts of methods but couldn't break through. Communication was also completely blocked. We could only wait outside anxiously, fearing something had happened to you."
"We're fine. We just ran into a few subspace projections—a small bit of trouble, that's all."
Tendo waved his hand, offering no more details about the battle. He turned to look at An Qin, his tone becoming a bit more serious.
"An Qin, have you found the location of the altars?"
An Qin nodded. The pale purple Dark Spirit Snake Star Power around her was still slowly flowing. Her face was still a bit pale, but her eyes were exceptionally determined.
"Found them. My Dark Spirit Snake bloodline is extremely sensitive to Abyss energy. I can clearly sense three sources of strong Abyss energy fluctuations. They should be the core altars for the ritual."
"These three locations are the third underground level of the Star Power Core sector, the Central Plaza of the Martial Arts Heavenly Capital, and the abandoned Star Power mine in the west of the city."
"Among them, the fluctuations at the third underground level are the strongest. It should be the location of the main altar."
"Good. We have clear targets. Let's split into three groups."
Tendo made an immediate decision and turned to Jing Liuli.
"Liuli, take a team of elite members to the Central Plaza. You must destroy the altar there in the shortest time possible. Be careful of ambushes from remaining Abyss Organization members."
"Chen Kong, take An Qin and Isabel to the abandoned Star Power mine in the west. An Qin will be responsible for precisely locating the altar. Isabel, use your Absolute Zero to freeze the altar's energy core and stop the energy flow. Chen Kong, use your Void Seals to completely eliminate any remaining Abyss energy to ensure the altar cannot be reactivated."
"Caroline, you come with me to the third underground level to handle the most critical main altar."
"Understood!"
Jing Liuli, Chen Kong, and Isabel responded simultaneously, their voices firm. Isabel directly activated the ice-attribute Star Power within her, a faint white cold mist rising around her body, already prepared for battle.