Even the endless, thunderous buzzing of insect wings in space couldn't dispel the profound shock gripping every heart at that moment.
Every starship—those just spit back out by the Giant Stings and those lucky enough to avoid being swallowed—fell utterly silent.
Because all eyes were locked onto a being that should never have appeared here in the first place.
A scarlet-red body. A colossal head heedlessly devouring the Giant Stings.
Those massive creatures, easily capable of swallowing entire starships, now seemed strangely small in comparison.
It felt as absurd as humans encountering fist-sized meatballs—although it might be somewhat tricky, it was entirely possible to swallow them whole.
Crunch, crunch…
The sound of shattering carapaces echoed eerily throughout space, accompanied by a peculiar squelching, deepening the terror of the scene.
The ships recently spat out by the giant insects didn't dare make a move, afraid any slight motion might disturb this massive beast enjoying its meal.
"Is…is that a Leviathan?" whispered the stunned refugees aboard one of the ships, incredulous.
Could this gigantic being leisurely devouring Giant Stings truly be a Leviathan?
Indeed, Leviathans, worshippers of the Voracity AEON Oroboros, were famed for being the largest organisms in the cosmos, instinctively feeding on everything in their path as they drifted through the starry sea.
Rumors spoke of the largest Leviathans being capable of filling an entire small galaxy, swallowing asteroids whole.
No matter how they looked at it, this creature fit that description perfectly.
"No, no—are you blind? Look at its shape! That's clearly a dragon!"
Yet, that Leviathan theory was swiftly overturned. Although Leviathans were enormous, they were hardly elegant or attractive in appearance.
But this crimson creature bore an unmistakable resemblance to a legendary dragon.
This was unmistakably a dragon-kind from the myths of the galaxy!
"Could this be the Supreme Dragon from Reyafal, arriving here itself?!"
If one were to speak of the largest known dragon-kind, the Supreme Dragon seated in the star whirlpool—Reyafal's "Candle," controller of day and night across star systems—would undoubtedly come to mind.
Was this massive being really Candle from Reyafal?
"Impossible! Reyafal's Supreme Dragon 'Candle' manages the transitions of entire star systems between day and night. There's no way such a deity would bother visiting this worthless corner of nowhere!"
Yet if it wasn't the Supreme Dragon, they truly couldn't imagine what other dragon-kind could possibly possess such a gargantuan body.
Their starships appeared no larger than tiny birds before the dragon's immense head, and its serpentine body stretched endlessly into the galactic abyss.
The Swarm still hadn't given up on attacking the enormous beast. Unfortunately, their assaults couldn't even scratch its scales. Completely unfazed, the dragon continued its meal without sparing them a glance.
Witnessing the calm and utterly indifferent manner of the dragon, an absurd yet oddly plausible speculation rose among the watching refugees:
"Could this actually be a hidden, Permanence Emanator concealed within the boundless galaxy?!"
The Permanence AEON Long had mysteriously fallen, and the Emanators under THEIR command had vanished without a trace.
It was long rumored some of Long's Emanators might still secretly roam the universe, although no one had ever confirmed these rumors.
Yet now, seeing this immense scarlet dragon, perhaps those legends were true after all.
Otherwise, how could such an impossibly gigantic dragon-kind appear?
No one dared interrupt the dragon's leisurely meal. They simply watched quietly as it swallowed tightly curled Giant Stings one after another.
Then, to everyone's astonishment, the dragon's expression suddenly transformed into one of immense satisfaction, remarkably vivid yet strangely incongruous amidst this dreadful scene.
Yet no matter how absurd or eerie, no one dared comment.
A dragon capable of casually eating Giant Stings wasn't something refugees could afford to provoke.
However, soon enough, their hearts jolted with fresh anxiety.
Because the dragon abruptly shifted its gaze to Titania!
Titania froze when she felt the creature's gaze settle upon her. The dragon's immense head slowly approached until it nearly touched her...
...Then suddenly, it sniffed twice.
"Gao~?" (This smell…where have I smelled this before?)
Dragreder stared curiously at the tiny woman in front of him, feeling as though her body was releasing some oddly familiar yet baffling scent.
It was simultaneously strange yet familiar. Had he eaten something similar before?
Dragreder pondered deeply, but he had eaten too much lately without pause. He recognized the scent clearly but couldn't quite recall exactly where from.
Forget it. Can't eat her anyway.
Disappointed, Dragreder disdainfully turned his head away.
He had promised Sora earlier—if he broke his promise, Sora would make him go hungry for three full hours.
Three hours! Three entire hours!
Did humans realize how many delicious meals he would miss in three hours!?
Unwilling to risk going hungry over a fleeting temptation, Dragreder chose instead to survey the surroundings.
"Ao~" (Though, there has been this absolutely delicious smell wafting around here since earlier…)
Dragreder's eyes swept greedily over the scattered starships. It was precisely that enticing scent that had drawn him here in the first place.
This aroma stirred his hunger deeply, compelling him to rush over immediately.
Meanwhile, Titania stared up at Dragreder, her expression shifting from confusion to astonishment.
Because inside this colossal dragon, she clearly sensed power—her own power.
And she had only ever granted her power to two people.
One was Hotaru, who possessed a small fraction of her divine essence. The other was Sora, with whom she'd temporarily cooperated earlier.
No one else had received even a speck of her divinity.
She was a god. Each sliver of her divine power required careful consideration before granting.
Yet this enormous scarlet dragon actually carried traces of her power!
"Hey, hey, hey! Where did you come from, you oversized lizard!?"
Titania boldly confronted the massive red dragon directly. Even if it meant potentially getting eaten on the spot, she had to demand answers.
Dragreder tilted his head, baffled by the sudden questioning.
What does she mean? Don't get it!
"You—you—!" Titania was about to launch into a tirade when she suddenly sensed something peculiar shifting in space nearby.
Above the dragon's massive head, a shimmering curtain of light abruptly appeared—and a blazing figure engulfed in flames smashed through, landing squarely on Dragreder's head.
"Who gave you permission to wander off, you greedy glutton!?"
Accompanied by the angry voice, Dragreder's enormous head noticeably tilted downward from the unexpected impact.
"This voice…" Fenille's eyes widened in surprise. Her gaze locked firmly onto the fiery figure atop the dragon's head.
Hearing that voice, Titania's initial panic quickly faded, replaced by a distinctly unpleasant irritation that surged from deep within her heart. She clenched her fists tightly.
"So it was you after all…"
Titania pointed accusingly at the figure standing atop the dragon's head.
"Sora! Who gave you permission to share the divine power I granted you with someone else!?"
Titania's exclamation revealed the newcomer's identity clearly.
Indeed, who else could it be but Sora?
Initially, Sora had intended to head toward Tartaro to rescue the trapped refugees. But after witnessing the overwhelming swarm outside, he opted instead to travel through the Mirror World—a place untouched by Swarm infestation.
He'd planned to safely reach Tartaro from the [Mirror World], rescue everyone, and then escape without incident.
But midway through the journey, an inexplicable tunnel-like cylinder had suddenly opened, releasing an irresistibly tantalizing aroma—which instantly drove the food-loving Dragreder into a frenzy, sending them charging recklessly out of the [Mirror World].
And so…
Things turned out this way.
"It's unbelievable to meet you here, of all places."
"Heh, no wonder my luck's so terrible today—it turns out an idiot like you was nearby!"
The moment they saw each other, the two started exchanging insults as if no one else were present.
They simply couldn't avoid it. To Sora, the person standing before him was just a coward who relied on sneak attacks to win.
And for Titania, the man before her was nothing more than a dimwit severely lacking in brains.
The instant these two met, the air became thick with tension.
But while they were busy bickering, countless pitch-black insects began silently closing in from every direction.
[The newborn god and the creation harboring divine power… If we manage to capture them all at once…]
Observing their quarrel from its hiding place, the Calamity Swarm King saw this as the perfect opportunity to eliminate both people and the dragon together.
These two individuals and that dragon had been the primary objectives of this swarm invasion spanning hundreds of lightyears.
If they succeeded here, then victory in this internal conflict of Propagation would belong to the Emanators!
The swarm gathered, enveloping them in layers upon layers of crawling darkness, and then surged forward to attack!
Explosive drones, strengthened by the Calamity Swarm King, charged relentlessly forward, setting off chain reactions of explosions.
Their numbers seemed endless, wave after wave crashing forward without pause.
Amidst this chaos, a strange fluid suddenly sprayed into the flames.
It wasn't water—it was highly concentrated corrosive acid, potent enough to instantly melt alloy and flesh alike!
At the same moment, Dragreder's massive body finally stirred into motion!
It swung its enormous form, sweeping through the void as though conducting a thorough cleaning. Countless insects were effortlessly smashed into fragments by its body, while enormous fireballs blasted from its mouth, burning gaping holes through the approaching swarm.
Yet, this was the heart of the insect calamity, where insects were the last thing they lacked!
A Giant Sting abruptly appeared from the side, soaring through space. Its target wasn't Dragreder—rather, it opened its cavernous maw and swallowed an area filled with countless explosive and corrosive insects.
Within moments, every drone trapped inside its stomach detonated violently!
BOOM!!
The Giant Sting itself was instantly ripped apart by the explosions and corrosion from within.
These suicidal attacks aimed solely to completely annihilate Sora and Titania.
Within the core of the swarm's territory, even the giant dragon had no room to evade.
Only by eradicating these two beings could the Calamity Swarm King finally rest easy.
"Roar!"
Enraged, Dragreder bellowed fiercely, launching a furious assault upon its surroundings.
Meanwhile, the Calamity Swarm King remained hidden, observing the remains of the Giant Sting.
It sensed no sign of life in that place.
Having been swallowed by the Giant Sting, and subsequently subjected to relentless internal explosions, surely Sora and Titania had perished!
Moreover, it no longer felt the aura of the newborn deity.
That newborn deity must certainly be…
Suddenly, the Calamity Swarm King felt a flicker of unease. Its attention turned toward the insect-wall barrier.
To its disbelief, two figures calmly emerged from within a reflected starry void.
"This isn't a biscuit—it's a portable mirror."
The reflected stars gradually faded, revealing a small device in Sora's hand.
This gadget was specially created within a short period to assist Sora. Though its technology wasn't especially advanced, it allowed him to freely open mirrors anywhere, seamlessly traveling through the swarm.
Though the earlier explosions were spectacular, Sora hadn't suffered even the slightest scratch.
"Since you mentioned the Calamity Swarm King is around here, how about a contest to see who finds it first?"
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder once more, Sora and Titania surveyed the swarms filling the starry void.
"Fine by me. Let's give it a try."
Titania transformed into a streak of radiant light, swiftly darting forward.
Confident that her innate connection to the Swarm King would grant her victory, she charged ahead.
Watching her figure fade into the distance, Sora could only shake his head.
"As expected, once an idiot, always an idiot…"
Didn't she realize that manual searching at a time like this was far too slow?
Sora pulled out a card engulfed in blazing flames, a card that had recently evolved remarkably, influenced by Dragreder's incessant feasting.
Golden lines wrapped intricately around its back, and the flames burning within it carried an aura of holiness.
"Let me teach you what we should really be doing right now."
'[EXTREME SURVIVE!!]'
An explosion of searing flames erupted in an instant, igniting the entire starry expanse. The extreme heat vaporized every insect nearby, reducing them to ashes.
At this moment, it seemed as though the stars themselves were ablaze.
Those fleeing the area could only gaze back in awe at the fiery heavens behind them.
Sensing danger, Titania instinctively raised her hand to shield herself from the blistering heat.
Yet the flames, as though possessing their own consciousness, bypassed her entirely, incinerating only the surrounding swarm.
"What the hell is this…?" Titania stared incredulously at the figure now appearing before her.
Golden-red patterns adorned thick armor, and a skirt decorated with dragon-scale designs blazed brightly with sacred golden fire.
Kamen Rider Ryuki – Extreme Survive.
But Sora's gaze was locked firmly onto one particular location.
"To think that so many insects would cluster in one spot—there must be something valuable hidden there."
He withdrew another card, sliding it smoothly into the Dragvisor.
'[STRIKE VENT!]'
Surrounding flames rapidly converged inside the dragon's jaw held in his hand.
BOOM!!
A fireball collided directly into the densely packed swarm concentrated in that area.
A tremendous explosion erupted, charring countless insects instantly into ash. The flames continued burning inward, clearing out every drone obstructing the area.
Through the smoking ruins, a pink-patterned insect abruptly appeared, frantically fleeing into the distance.
Sora calmly watched its retreating figure.
[What is that thing? What kind of monstrosity is this?!] The Calamity Swarm King desperately fled, panicked beyond measure.
Who exactly was this unexpected intruder?
Where in the universe had he come from?
Why was he standing beside that newborn deity?
[I must get away! I have to escape from here first!]
Contact Starcrusher and Afterglow immediately! There's someone else beside the newborn deity…
The Calamity Swarm King suddenly froze.
The surrounding scenery abruptly changed—no stars could be seen anywhere. It faced only an infinite abyss ahead.
This place was…
Dragreder closed its jaws!
Crunch!
Crack, crunch, crunch!
As Dragreder chewed, the once-orderly swarm instantly scattered in disarray, utterly leaderless…
In the end, the Calamity Swarm King had personally flown into Dragreder's mouth, bringing an abrupt end to its brief revival.