Just that shadow looming down brought a suffocating sense of pressure, making it hard to breathe.
A Star-Shattering King Beetle... how is that possible!!
Qi Zhimu's eyes were filled with deep disbelief.
How could a Virtual Substance Lifeform give birth to an existence at the level of a Star God Emissary?!
All worlds born from the influence of memory substance are essentially Subspaces within the fog of remembrance, dependent on this galaxy.
No matter how strong the setting of the lifeforms nurtured within, their status and weight are inevitably locked within that Subspace.
It was like a high-fantasy cultivator or an immortal daoist appearing in the world-building of a traditional martial arts novel.
It was simply absurd.
The Star-Shattering King Beetle's deep blue eyes locked onto the two people below, its mouth emitting a tooth-grinding grinding sound.
"Brat, hold onto me tight."
"..."
Before Herta could even make a sound, the world in her eyes blurred into afterimages.
The giant wings on the back of the Star-Shattering King Beetle vibrated as terrifying energy gathered in its massive maw.
Qi Zhimu pressed his fingertip heavily against the void, and a pale gold barrier unfolded above their heads.
The energy beam slammed into the barrier, and imaginary energy scattered in all directions; any stinging insects it touched died instantly, leaving not even ashes behind.
In less than two seconds, cracks appeared in the barrier, and a wisp of imaginary energy drilled through, striking toward Herta.
Too late to reinforce the defense, Qi Zhimu suddenly turned to protect her, taking the attack with his back.
That wisp of imaginary energy pierced straight through Qi Zhimu's shoulder blade, tearing through flesh and bone.
Without giving Qi Zhimu time to react further, the Star-Shattering King Beetle's body flickered with deep blue light as it brewed another attack, aimed directly at the girl in his arms.
Sensing the Star-Shattering King Beetle's intention, the man's expression became terrifyingly dark.
"Touching my delicious little snack?"
Qi Zhimu's tone was bone-chillingly cold as he stomped his right leg hard against the void.
Visible ripples of mana rapidly expanded, forming Celestial Thunder that forcibly detonated the energy about to erupt from the Star-Shattering King Beetle's mouth.
Suffering from the backlash, fragments of the Star-Shattering King Beetle's head armor flew everywhere as it let out an angry roar.
In the next instant, a bright light caused Herta to instinctively close her eyes.
A bolt of lightning pierced through heaven and earth, arriving first and accurately hitting the back of the Star-Shattering King Beetle.
Countless more bolts of lightning followed, the roaring sound unending.
Herta struggled to squint through a slit in her eyes; all she could see was lightning striking down from the sky, raging violently amidst the insect swarm.
The entire world was trembling.
Qi Zhimu must be using a Lightning-type Forbidden Spell.
Just then, Herta realized she had been tied to Qi Zhimu by something, and the arm that had been holding her tight let go for the first time.
Then, she sensed the aura of magic of different attributes.
Having known Qi Zhimu for so long, she was already quite familiar with these; just by listening to the sounds, she knew each one's power was more terrifying than the last.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but the weightlessness from the high-speed movement and the noise from the terrifying attacks all vanished at once.
Herta endured her dizziness and took in the current state of their surroundings.
...The world had turned into a purgatory.
The ground was cracked, with magma surging out from the fissures; of the insect swarm that had occupied the entire sky, only scattered ashes remained drifting down.
"Is it over...?"
"No."
Just as Qi Zhimu finished speaking, the familiar buzzing of insects rang out again.
Following the sound, Herta's body couldn't help but go cold.
The injuries on that world-covering insect were visible to the naked eye, but they didn't look too serious.
"What on earth is that thing...?"
"An Emanator of The Propagation. It can't be killed by normal means; the only way is to destroy the world that nurtured it! I'll reward you with a look at a destructive power even more terrifying than Super-Tier Magic."
In an instant, Herta found she couldn't move.
Her body, her senses, even her heartbeat came to a halt.
It was as if time had been paused; only her eyes could still see clearly, the images being etched into her memory to be synchronized with her cognition once time resumed its flow.
"Eternal Instant."
As those four words left Qi Zhimu's mouth, everything in heaven and earth stood still.
A layer of ice covered the entire world at an indescribable speed, leaving not a single gap.
However, the Star-Shattering King Beetle did not lose its ability to move; after a brief stagnation, it actually shattered the ice layer.
But it was precisely this action that caused a shocking scene to emerge.
The cracks in the ice spread rapidly, running through the entire world like a fuse.
At a certain moment, the world shattered.
The thick fog of memory substance squeezed in, only to be dissolved into nothingness by an even more terrifying power.
The world before her eyes fell into endless darkness; through the dissipating fog of memory substance, Herta saw countless stars.
It wasn't until her consciousness returned that she realized what had just happened.
Qi Zhimu had actually forcibly erased the entire world from its dimension, leaving nothing behind...
With the world that nurtured the powerful enemy gone, its inherent settings automatically collapsed.
Losing its Emanator attributes, it was no match for Qi Zhimu at all, and was buried along with the world in that single strike.
But at this moment, they were in the vacuum of space.
"Pfft—"
Warm liquid splashed down, much of it landing on her face.
Herta instinctively turned her head and found Qi Zhimu behind her with a distorted expression, his arms braced outward as if resisting something.
!!
The shock in her heart instantly turned into worry.
How could Herta not understand what he was doing?
If an ordinary human is exposed to space, they will lose consciousness in a short time, and after that, they will feel nothing, forever.
"Di... rection!"
Qi Zhimu forced out two words with difficulty.
Herta's thinking speed reached the fastest it had ever been in her life, and she pointed the way without hesitation.
At this moment, every millisecond counted.
Besides countering the effects of the vacuum environment, Qi Zhimu also had to face the pressure of the abundant imaginary energy in the universe.
It was this pressure that caused him immense pain.
Only Star God Emanators and a few special non-Emanator existences could remain unaffected.
Qi Zhimu had to find the next patch of fog of memory substance to dive into and cut into a Subspace within the time he could still hold on.
...
As time passed.
Herta's expression was pained; the feeling of suffocation became more obvious, her eyelids felt heavy, her body was weak, and she couldn't even speak.
If this continued, she would suffocate to death before long.
She could feel Qi Zhimu still accelerating, but... she really couldn't hold on anymore.
Just as her consciousness was about to fade, a metallic scent of blood met her, and her lips were sealed by another pair of soft ones.
Gradually, Herta regained her clarity, her eyes widening as she looked at the face inches away, her expression complex.
Mr. Creditor didn't want to eat her.
He was just fulfilling his promise so that she could live.
Feeling his taste, his scent, and his delivery, Herta didn't even realize when they entered the Subspace.
It wasn't until their lips separated that she came back to her senses.
The mana rope tied around Herta vanished, and Qi Zhimu landed while holding her, but his knees suddenly buckled.
By the time he carefully set her down, he was unable to stand straight, kneeling on one knee and involuntarily falling forward.
If Herta hadn't reached forward in time to hug his neck and support half his weight, Qi Zhimu would have been lying flat on the ground by now.
"Brat... my magic... is very, powerful. I didn't... lie to you, right?"
Hearing Qi Zhimu's voice so weak for the first time, tears soaked Herta's eyes.
"Yeah... you didn't lie to me..."
...
Returning to Azure Star tomorrow to start wrapping things up.
Four updates this weekend, please show some love with the 'Power Generation' feature.
Some readers asked about a group; I'm too busy with my real-life job and don't have the energy to manage one, so I have no plans for now.
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