A few hours after departure, the convoy fleet of the Whistling Flames cruised steadily through the boundless cosmos, its engines humming softly as countless stars drifted past the windows like diamonds scattered across an endless velvet sky.
The tranquil, breathtaking scenery stretched as far as the eye could see, serene, beautiful, and brilliantly radiant, making it difficult to imagine that danger could be lurking anywhere within such an infinite expanse.
Unfortunately, that serenity only lasted until the very next moment.
*BOOOM!*
A deafening explosion erupted from the fleet's flank without warning, shattering the silence of space in an instant, and the entire starskiff boarded by Tingyun lurched violently as though it had been struck head-on by a colossal hammer.
In an instant, the massive starskiff shook uncontrollably, tilting sharply to one side as every deck groaned beneath the overwhelming impact. The violent tremor nearly threw everyone off their feet, while loose objects tumbled across the floor and crashed into the walls.
*BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!*
Shrill alarms immediately echoed through every compartment while crimson warning lights flashed frantically, bathing the once-comfortable interior in an ominous blood-red glow. The peaceful atmosphere that had filled the cabin only moments earlier disappeared completely, replaced by panic, confusion, and suffocating tension.
"Enemy attack! It's the Antimatter Legion!"
Suddenly, the captain of the escort squad shouted through the communicator, his voice hoarse with desperation and terror, while the transmission itself was drowned out by an even denser barrage of explosions and the piercing shrieks of energy weapons firing outside.
Tingyun, who had been sitting at her desk reading a document, felt her heart instantly sink as all the color drained from her face.
In the next moment, she rushed to the tall window and pressed herself against the glass, only to find that the once-peaceful sea of stars had already transformed into a battlefield consumed by chaos.
Countless Voidrangers swarmed toward the fleet's escort starskiffs like an unstoppable plague of locusts, surging forward in seemingly endless waves, while relentless artillery fire intertwined into a brilliant yet horrifying web of destruction that illuminated the darkness with continuous flashes of blinding light.
Meanwhile, the elite guards she had always taken pride in stood no chance against such overwhelming numbers and destructive power.
Their starskiffs were ripped apart as though they were made of paper, exploding one after another into fleeting fireballs that briefly illuminated the dark expanse of space before vanishing forever. Fragments of shattered hulls and burning debris scattered across the battlefield, silently drifting through the void like the remains of fallen stars.
Seeing the scene, despair immediately flooded through Tingyun like an icy tide, extinguishing the last traces of hope within her heart.
In her life, she had never witnessed anything this horrifying before.
From her observation, this was clearly not a coincidence or an ordinary ambush, but a meticulously planned extermination. The enemy had appeared in overwhelming force from the very beginning, leaving the convoy with almost no room to escape or regroup.
'What do I do? What do I do?!'
Overwhelming fear seized every part of Tingyun's body, causing her breathing to become ragged, yet her instinct to survive drove her trembling hands toward her phone almost without conscious thought.
After unlocking the screen, the name of her one and only emergency contact appeared before her eyes, becoming the sole ray of light amid the overwhelming darkness.
'Lucian! That's right! Lord Lucian! He'll definitely... He'll definitely...'
Clinging desperately to that faint glimmer of hope, Tingyun no longer hesitated.
Without wasting another second, she pressed the emergency distress signal, transmitting both the SOS request and her starskiff's real-time coordinates.
After that, there was nothing left for her to do.
Negotiating with people and managing business affairs were her strengths, but placing her on an actual battlefield would only get her killed within moments since she wasn't a fighter.
Faced with an enemy capable of effortlessly annihilating an entire escort fleet, all she could do was wait, pray that her distress signal had reached its destination, and hope that the one person she trusted most would arrive before everything was already too late.
*BOOM!*
Suddenly, an explosive crash echoed throughout the room as the thick alloy door was violently ripped from its frame. The heavy metal twisted like paper before being hurled across the room by an indescribable force, crashing into the far wall with a thunderous impact that shook the entire cabin.
A lone, tall figure slowly emerged through the drifting smoke and the flickering orange glow of the flames raging outside.
It was a being whose presence defied description, her entire body shrouded in an aura of suffocating destruction that seemed capable of crushing the will of anyone who stood before her. Merely standing there, she radiated an overwhelming pressure that made the surrounding air itself feel unbearably heavy.
She possessed breathtaking beauty, yet beneath that flawless appearance lay utter indifference and cruel malice, as though all living beings were nothing more than insignificant insects meant to entertain her.
Her eyes calmly swept across the room, carrying neither hatred nor anger, only the detached amusement of a predator gazing upon prey that had already lost every chance of escape.
"Your body is a bit frail, but I do like your appearance."
Phantylia chuckled softly, her voice melodious and pleasant, yet so cold that it sent chills down the spine, standing in stark contrast to the terrifying devastation surrounding her, making the scene all the more unsettling.
"Take a deep breath, beautiful foxian lady. Feeling dizzy is perfectly normal."
As she spoke, Phantylia leisurely approached Tingyun step by step, her elegant movements unhurried and graceful, as though she were taking a casual stroll rather than walking through the ruins of a battlefield. Every step she took seemed to carry an invisible pressure that weighed heavily upon the surroundings.
Tingyun looked up at the overwhelmingly oppressive and tall woman, terror filling every inch of her face. Her breathing became uneven, and her body instinctively trembled as an indescribable fear gripped her heart. Merely facing the woman before her made every instinct in her body scream that resistance was utterly meaningless.
"Y-You're a Lord Ravager... What are you trying to do?"
Anyone capable of commanding the forces of the Antimatter Legion on this scale could only be a Lord Ravager.
"Smart. I like that. Anyway, from this moment onward, everything that belongs to you—your identity, your appearance, your relationships—will have the great honor of being requisitioned by me."
A strand of Destruction energy capable of making one's very soul tremble gathered at Phantylia's fingertip as she slowly extended it toward Tingyun's forehead. The sinister power quietly distorted the surrounding space, its mere presence enough to fill the room with an overwhelming aura of death and despair.
At this moment, Tingyun finally understood the true nature of the disaster that awaited her.
She wasn't simply going to die; she was about to become the Lord Ravager's pawn, a tool that would bring catastrophe upon the Xianzhou Luofu while wearing her own face and living under her own identity.
'Lord Lucian predicted this...'
As that thought flashed through her mind, it brought neither relief nor comfort. Instead, it only deepened the helplessness in her heart.
Tingyun could only pray that sending that emergency signal had not been in vain.
"Lord Lucian..."
At the very last moment, Tingyun softly whispered Lucian's name, her trembling voice barely audible, as though entrusting her final hope, her final prayer, and the last flicker of light within her heart to the one person she believed could still perform a miracle.
===
Meanwhile...
*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*
Inside his residence at Fyxestroll Garden, Lucian had been leisurely reclining in his seat while enjoying peeled grapes that Jingliu delicately fed directly to his lips with her slender, jade-like fingers, only for the moment to be abruptly interrupted by a sudden emergency notification that caused his relaxed movements to pause ever so slightly.
Picking up his phone, Lucian glanced at the sender before looking at the message itself, only to discover that it contained nothing but Tingyun's current coordinates.
There was no explanation.
There were no additional words.
Only her location.
In an instant, the trace of laziness lingering in Lucian's eyes disappeared completely, replaced by a chilling sharpness that sent the surrounding atmosphere plummeting several degrees.
If Tingyun had sent him only her location, then she had undoubtedly encountered a life-or-death crisis.
Under normal circumstances, someone as intelligent and composed as Tingyun would never send such an incomplete message unless she had been left with no time to explain.
Most likely, it was Phantylia.
"I'll be gone for a bit."
After leaving behind those brief words, Lucian immediately activated Absolute Hit, teleporting himself directly toward Tingyun's coordinates. In that very instant, his figure vanished from where he had been standing without disturbing even the slightest current of air, as though he had never been there at all.
In an instant, the room fell silent.
Jingliu, Baiheng, and Himeko all paused simultaneously, their gazes instinctively shifting toward the spot where Lucian had disappeared only a heartbeat earlier.
"Huh? Where'd he go? What's he up to?"
Baiheng blinked repeatedly, looking around the room in confusion as she instinctively searched for Lucian's figure.
"What happened?"
Himeko looked equally puzzled, her expression carrying a trace of concern.
Although Lucian had left calmly, his unusually abrupt departure made it clear that something out of the ordinary had happened.
Jingliu frowned slightly, though her expression remained as calm as ever.
In the end, she casually placed the peeled grape she had been holding into Baiheng's mouth before withdrawing her hand and speaking.
"Something important must have come up. No need to worry about him."
===
In the depths of space, Phantylia's fingertip was only a hair's breadth away from touching Tingyun's forehead, the corners of her lips already curling into a satisfied smile.
Steal Tingyun's identity, then leave immediately afterward—the entire operation would be effortless. Once she successfully replaced the foxian woman, everything that followed would proceed exactly according to her plans.
However...
*Swish—!*
A flash of icy steel suddenly swept between Phantylia and Tingyun with blinding speed. The slash appeared and vanished in less than an instant, leaving behind only the crisp, chilling hum of a blade cutting cleanly through the air.
*Pu-chi!*
In the next instant, Phantylia's hand was cleanly severed before it could even reach Tingyun. It spun through the air once before dropping onto the floor with a dull thud.
Blood immediately gushed from the cleanly sliced wound, splattering across the floor in bright crimson streams as the metallic scent rapidly spread through the cabin.
In an instant, the triumphant smile on Phantylia's face froze.
She hadn't even reacted.
She hadn't sensed anyone approaching.
Yet her wrist had already been severed.
How was that possible?
Someone had entered her perception range without making the slightest sound, reached a position directly behind her, and even wounded her before she realized anyone was there?
For the first time in a long while, genuine astonishment appeared in Phantylia's eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately abandoned her attack on Tingyun, withdrew, and retreated several steps in one fluid motion before finally turning to face the unexpected intruder.
Only then did she clearly see the one who had appeared out of nowhere.
He was a tall, black-haired, golden-eyed young man dressed in ordinary casual clothes, holding what appeared to be nothing more than a plain sword. His expression carried a faintly amused smile, as though everything unfolding before him was merely an entertaining spectacle rather than a life-and-death battle.
At first glance, he looked completely unremarkable, like an ordinary civilian who had somehow wandered onto a battlefield by mistake.
But after witnessing that strike, there was nothing ordinary about him.
The blade in his hand was plain.
His clothes were plain.
Even his aura seemed plain.
Yet those very things only made him even more terrifying.
He was obviously the type who deliberately concealed his true strength beneath an utterly ordinary appearance before revealing it at the perfect moment.
"Phantylia. You came here in your real body? Good, you're not getting outta here then."
Lucian spoke calmly, his tone carrying neither excitement nor anger, as though he were merely stating an unquestionable fact. In fact, there wasn't the slightest trace of hostility or killing intent in his voice, yet those simple words caused the surrounding atmosphere to grow noticeably heavier.
As soon as Tingyun recognized Lucian standing before her, the overwhelming fear that had gripped her heart finally began to fade, while a powerful sense of safety washed over her like a warm current.
Only moments earlier, she had already prepared herself to face death with dignity, determined to remain graceful and unyielding until her very last breath. Now that she had been saved, the tension that had been desperately sustaining her body disappeared all at once.
"Ahh..."
Tingyun's legs suddenly gave out, and she nearly collapsed onto the floor.
Fortunately, Lucian reached out in time, wrapping an arm around Tingyun's slender waist to steady her before she could fall. Her waist was remarkably slim and soft, fitting comfortably within his arm, while her slightly trembling body instinctively leaned against him as she struggled to regain her balance.
"Thank you for saving me... I can never repay the debt I owe you for saving my life..."
Supporting herself against Lucian's arm, Tingyun thanked him weakly, her voice lacking its usual elegance and energy. Her normally composed smile had long since disappeared, replaced by the lingering exhaustion and relief of someone who had narrowly escaped certain death.
After narrowly escaping death, feeling completely drained was only natural. At this moment, simply remaining conscious already required every bit of strength she had left.
"So you're that Lucian... the man everyone's been talking about as though you were some kind of legend..."
Phantylia narrowed her eyes cautiously, her gaze never leaving his figure for even a single moment.
"Do you truly intend to make an enemy of me?"
Before arriving at the Xianzhou Luofu, she had already investigated Lucian.
There was supposedly a mysterious young man who had become incredibly famous throughout the Xianzhou Luofu. Countless people claimed he was the Arbiter-General of the Xianzhou Cangcheng, a legendary figure who had appeared out of nowhere and rapidly risen to prominence.
In Phantylia's ears, that had sounded utterly ridiculous.
Because she knew full well that the Xianzhou Cangcheng had been destroyed countless years ago, she hadn't believed a single word of those rumors, dismissing them as nothing more than exaggerated tales spread by ignorant mortals.
But now...
After meeting him in person...
After losing an entire hand to him...
She found herself believing those rumors, if only a little.
At the very least, this man was no ordinary powerhouse.
More likely, he was an Emanator.
After all, if he weren't an Emanator, who else could have slipped past her perception so effortlessly and severed one of her hands before she had even noticed?
Now, the only question remaining was which Aeon he served.
"Of course I don't wanna be your enemy."
Lucian flashed a faint smile, talking as casually as if they were just chatting about the weather instead of facing each other on a battlefield.
"I've got something else in mind for you. Like... becoming my maid."
Yes, there were already plenty of women around him, but the problem was that every single one of them was either already his wife or a future wife.
What Lucian didn't have was an actual servant, an actual maid. And in his opinion, Phantylia seemed perfectly suited for the role.
Capture her, bring her home, have her serve tea to his wives, wash the laundry, make the beds every day, and perhaps even prepare meals whenever she wasn't busy.
"...A maid?"
Phantylia repeated, as though wondering whether she had misheard him, before letting out a soft chuckle.
"Hehehe..."
It was a chuckle filled not with amusement, but with fury.
Unconcealed killing intent flooded her crimson eyes as an oppressive pressure spread throughout the surrounding space.
"You're the first person who's ever dared to speak to me with such arrogance..." Phantylia's voice grew colder with every word. "Enslave a Lord Ravager? Keep dreaming!"
*BOOM!*
A violent surge of Destruction energy suddenly erupted from Phantylia's body, causing the surrounding space itself to tremble violently.
Dark crimson energy swirled around her like an endless storm, distorting the air and making the void itself appear unstable. It looked as though she was about to unleash a devastating attack.
"You damaged my body, and now you think you can enslave an Emanator of Destruction?"
Phantylia's expression twisted into one of cold fury.
"Who gave you the courage?!"
"DIE!"
Before the final word had even finished echoing through the battlefield, Phantylia exploded into motion.
However, instead of charging toward Lucian, she spun around and fled at full speed without the slightest hesitation. Her figure instantly transformed into a streak of crimson light that shot toward the distant sea of stars.
Needless to say, everything she had just said—her threats, her killing intent, and her overwhelming aura—had been nothing more than an elaborate smokescreen designed to create the perfect opening for her escape.
'Hmph, trying to play the weakling before revealing your true strength? I'm not giving you that chance.'
If Lucian could injure her with a single surprise attack, then there was naturally a chance he could kill her outright—or worse, capture her alive.
Phantylia wasn't foolish, nor was she the type to recklessly gamble with her true body. Without knowing Lucian's true capabilities, there was absolutely no reason for her to fight him head-on.
Retreating wasn't shameful.
As long as her true body escaped, opportunities would always come again in the future. She could investigate him further, uncover his weaknesses, and settle today's humiliation another day. Only a complete idiot would stubbornly fight him to the death without understanding what kind of being he really was.
Lucian blinked, looking somewhat dumbfounded as he watched the rapidly fading streak of crimson light.
"..."
For a brief moment, even he didn't know what to say.
He had actually run into a real expert who knew exactly when to back out.
He hadn't even gotten the chance to show off yet, and his opponent had already gone full 'Nigerundayo!'
===
[A bonus chapter for reaching 300 Power Stones]
[Support and get early access to upcoming chapters at: patreon.com/VALRRR]