"Director of Starsafe, why are you interfering in our business? I thought we were allies." Havoc Ancestor, Rank 4 Awakener in Energy, waved his hand.
The dark and cold space caught fire as if space itself was an effective fuel. The fire spread in the blink and went from covering the area of a small tree to a forest covering an entire continent.
It wasn't an ordinary fire that non-celestial fire awakeners could conjure. It wasn't even accurate to call it a fire attack. The flames were not the main offense by themselves, but were merely carriers of the real attack.
"Shouldn't you stop attacking if you want to speak?" Baldur sneered and tried to get away from the tongues of flames that hissed at him like living snakes.
But even as he tried his best, pulses of invisible energy burst from the flames and passed through him.
Baldur's movements grew slower. It wasn't time that grew slower nor was it space that grew denser. The energy behind his movements was simply swallowed up!
And the flames, like a vacuum cleaner sucking death, continued to absorb the energy from Baldur's body.
Baldur's body temperature collapsed. His heart continued to pump blood with the same force but the blood increasingly grew slower.
"You old fucker," Baldur cursed under his breath and pointed his fingers at his own heart.
If he let the flames do their job, all activities in his body would cease and he'd freeze to death.
"Old fucker? Hm, a rank 4 director is very suspicious, is it not? Little fucker." Havoc tribe's ancestor narrowed his eyes at Baldur and clenched his fist.
The flames turned from golden to blue and the suction doubled.
Baldur's attempts to even escape were curtailed as an invisible field began to gnaw at his energy reserves.
"Try looking into my affairs and I promise your little tribe will join the list of extinct species." Baldur grinned a fearless grin that unsettled the ancestor.
Then he stopped holding back his power and waved his hand. A power deep inside his body unleashed itself onto the deep space.
The sea of fire raging towards Baldur flickered violently as if it was subject to a violent storm. Half of the fires disappeared instantly while the rest struggled to hold on.
To the naked eye, it seemed like Baldur just waved his hand. But Havoc Ancestor was clearly able to see the Qi overflowing from his body.
The tyrannical qi, the hallmark of someone Forcender. The chi of mortals had evolved into something far greater and could affect every other power.
"Extinct? Even the Duke of Centaurus isn't sure of that. If he fails, he'd have to bear endless vengeance from my tribe. That's why the Duchy doesn't touch us. But you, you threaten us with extinction?" Havoc's Ancestor sneered with contempt.
But deep in his eyes, worry began to brew.
Baldur didn't even bother to reply and repelled the fires. The sea of fire fought back and the two reached a stalemate where the fires couldn't advance and the Qi couldn't push them back.
The outcome of the match didn't matter much to the Ancestor. But the indifference Baldur showed…
'This guy is young. Much younger than me. And a Rank 4 at that. What's his background?'
The old man thought for a moment and flicked his wrist. The fires disappeared in a blink and the space went dark once again.
"What is the price that boy paying you? We can do double. There's no need for enmity between us." The old man rubbed his hand and looked Baldur straight in the eye.
"The price…" Baldur thought back to the favors by that mysterious powerhouse. Compared to the unknown powerhouse, Havocs had a better network inside the Duchy. If they really helped him out, it'd be much easier to find that thing.
Thinking so, Baldur said. "Is not something rats in the sewer can afford."
"You arrogant bastard!"
The space burned, with a far greater fire this time, reflecting the old man's feelings.
No matter how good-tempered he was, the insulting remark hit a sensitive spot. Havocs were persecuted in Nexus Empire and escaped here. They really lived like rats in the gutter!
"You'll regret not taking up the chance for peace." The Ancestor said and shot forward.
Baldur's body slowed down like a log and every movement grew infinitely more challenging.
The old man didn't want to provoke an enmity with an unknown young genius. But if push came to shove, he wasn't really afraid of anyone.
Havocs weren't notorious pirates for nothing. They could just dump this place and escape if things really go bad. Though that'd be a big loss and that person might get angry…it's better than to spare Baldur and keep a rank 4 enemy alive.
"Die!"
— — — —
"Die!"
Varian grabbed the armrests and braced himself as the spaceship rocked under the energy explosions.
The spaceship already entered the layered space between outer and inner space and was pushing through that region.
But even then, the pursuit of the Patriarch and Havoc powerhouses just didn't stop.
[Warning! 1st Line of Armor on the tail is damaged. Repair it urgently.]
Boom!
Varian wanted to open the entrance to Hortus with his celestial space powers and escape but since he was already moving in this chaotic space, any such movement would be difficult.
[Warning! 2nd Line of Armor on the tail is gone! The critical engine components risk being exposed! Correct the situation immediately!]
"Mad dogs! Absolute mad dogs!" Varian cursed under his breath and slammed a button on the spaceship.
Instead of moving through the layered space, it went deeper and broke into the Inner Space.
Once he passed through the big white barrier, Varian was faced with an inner space that was surprisingly filled with many ruins.
Too many floating remains of houses, roads, palaces, temples, and more. These many couldn't come from a city. It must be an entire planet!
In the previous war, the Centaurus Duchy lost many planets. Perhaps this was the wreckage of one when it was ravaged by a celestial space awakener.
Various thoughts flashed in Varian's mind and he quickly made a decision.
Just a second later, Havoc Patriarch and others broke through the boundary of Inner Space.
But Varian was gone!
The Inner Space was grey, chaotic, and filled with chaotic spatial current akin to a wild storm. Even the near-endless amount of debris didn't change the gloomy atmosphere. If anything, it only pushed the mood further down.
"Search! Find that bastard at any cost!" Neihor roared at the top of his longs and personally led his own ship.
As spaceships designed by a race with an inborn talent for space, Havocs' spaceships remained sturdy and comfortably searched for the traces of Varian's spaceship.
But even with the best of their technologies and powers, they found no clue.
Varian did appear here with his spaceship. But then…he seemed to have just disappeared!
A few minutes later, Neihor and the rank 2 powerhouses stepped out of the spaceship and dispersed in different directions.
'To think I'd have to hide like his one day…' Varian crouched on a large floating rock in the Inner Space.
It seemed like the remnant of an old academy with random paintings and scribblings on the walls, reminding Varian of his schooldays.
"Where the fuck are you hiding, you rat?" Patriarch Neihor scanned the chaotic inner space with his hyper-energy sense.
Even though it wasn't as effective as space sense, it could surely find a rank 2.
…Unless that's someone who could hide their aura to the point of perfection which happened to be Varian.
"Search! Search every inch of this goddamn place! He couldn't have gone anywhere far."
He was right. Varian wasn't far from them. And if they did search thoroughly, he'd be caught.
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