Chapter 489: The Phantasm Shatters, the Broken Rainbow Runs Red |
Boom!
Several peals of thunder tore across the sky, as if heralding the shelling forth of the "Bright Moon."
Immediately, a torrential downpour fell without warning. Before the raindrops even hit the sea, the gravity pulled them into tilted, conical streams that plunged into the great vortex.
"What rotten luck, and of all times, a thunderstorm now!" Zhang Minglu cursed. The heavens refused to cooperate and chose this moment to make trouble.
He turned to Guan Tong, who was already geared up and standing by the hatch, his eyes behind the goggles calm and steady.
"Are we sure we should act in this situation? The heavy rain will obstruct visibility," Uenoshi asked doubtfully at his side.
"It's fine," Guan Tong said. "We already have enough difficulties. One more won't matter."
"All right!" Zhang Minglu shouted, "I believe you can definitely do it. When we get back we'll celebrate properly!"
Adam smiled. "Dr. Zhang, don't celebrate ahead of time."
"I'm ready," Guan Tong said. "We can start anytime."
Zhang Minglu cut the small talk. After coordinating with the observers, they confirmed that part of the "Bright Moon" had already risen above the surface, with the central region still several meters underwater—an optimal window to act.
If they delayed, the array operation might begin. Even if Guan Tong succeeded then, the three thousand Ascendants inside the array would be incinerated by the high-energy lasers.
The loss of those elite fighters would not only be their nations' loss, it would be a blow to all humanity.
Besides, Guan Tong and the others strongly suspected those three thousand people might not obediently enter the array to sacrifice themselves. Such anti-human orders were likely to produce complications.
But none of that mattered for the current Guan Tong. The hatch was open. Looking down, he could see the storm clouds emitting a translucent blue light.
Guan Tong gave Adam a gesture, then stepped forward and leaped down.
Whoosh!
The winds this time were stronger than before. Guan Tong wrapped himself in Shadow and relied on its non-conductive nature to pass safely through the dangerous thundercloud zone.
During the descent he felt a special Mind Power field enveloping him—Adam's gravity field—and the sea surface cleared into view.
Even in waters far from the vortex center, the sea had already been twisted into a spiraling rotation. The Bright Moon's light tinted the surface a pale bluish-white.
The most terrifying thing was that not a single fish remained in the water.
Indeed, over nearly twenty days, the nearby marine life had all been sucked into the gravity vortex and become part of the "Lunar Ring." Big fish, small fish—none escaped.
The Bright Moon used their flesh to increase its mass, turning the area into a literal dead sea. Even if the Rules were resolved, recovery would likely take an unknown, long time.
Plop.
When Guan Tong entered the water he released Shadow. Lacking the experience of the last time—then it had acted more slowly, having already approached this "water mountain" earlier—this time things were different.
"The Bright Moon is just outside." Andrew's voice came through the locator, "It's rising slowly but—"
Before he finished, a change occurred.
The towering underwater water-mass suddenly ceased collapsing without warning!
Amid thunder, fissure-like streaks of light appeared across the surface of that immense water mountain—amounts of seawater impossible to count had taken shape there.
Each streak was a massive waterfall. Tons of seawater poured downward; under intense gravity pull they fell vertically, exploding into mushroom-like plumes of mist.
The thunderous slaps of water even drowned out the thunder in the storm clouds; the sound waves spread toward the mainland and still did not stop.
"It's the Bright Moon!" Zhang Minglu shouted. "It broke through the critical point and actually rose!"
If the earlier rises had been latent, then at this final stage of the Rules the Bright Moon finally emerged.
Like plants that root slowly but then sprout wildly once they pierce the surface, the Bright Moon destroyed the watery mountain barrier it had created at the moment it truly rose.
When the pale bluish radiance pierced the mist, all observers saw its true form and were struck speechless.
It was a gigantic luminous sphere wrapped in pale bluish-white glow. Its first, innermost layer was formed of seawater bound by gravity, like a crystalline water film refracting the light emitted by the sphere.
The second layer clinging to the water film consisted of water plants and scraps of marine life captured by gravity. Flesh had mostly vanished—only dried skin and bones remained wrapped in seawater; colossal whale skeletons clung to it but looked tiny, like human model toys.
Further out were some trapped ships that hadn’t escaped in time. They had long since broken apart, turning into sheets of iron plastered on the water film like opened specimens.
The collapsed water mountain formed the final layer. Those waters spun around it under gravity like a gigantic luminous Ferris wheel, each "carriage" composed of thousands to tens of thousands of tons of seawater.
"Oh my god..."
All the observers, seeing the newly risen Bright Moon, were stunned by its grand scale; for a while many even forgot to breathe.
Each person felt how insignificant they were before this newly risen moon, before the Fire Thief's manipulation of heaven and earth. How utterly trivial humanity seemed.
"A Bright Moon Rises Over the Sea..."
Guan Tong stared into the distance. Because water nearest the Bright Moon was most distorted by its gravity, even from afar he could still make out its presence with his eyes.
Terrifying, he thought.
More terrifying was that the Bright Moon had only revealed the tip of the iceberg; most of it remained underwater.
At this rate, by the last moment of the final day of the Rules, the Bright Moon might not only rise above the sea but ascend into the air to some height... No doubt then the entire Lanyang would be drained to form its water film.
They had to stop it now!
Shadow had reached the Bright Moon. In the form of an expanded Shadow Domain, it rapidly pierced into the sphere and shot forward at top speed, intending to traverse the core laterally and pierce its diameter.
Aboard Suroma's transport at high altitude, Joiessen, who commanded the scene, received a message from the Senate.
"The intelligence department has detected a Beixing spacecraft in the target airspace. Beixing forces are also taking action."
Joiessen was surprised to hear this.
He had assumed that Beixing's refusal to send people into the array meant they abandoned challenging the Rules and had entrusted fate to others; that now seemed untrue.
What should he do? Should he execute the plan now to avoid being preempted?
While he hesitated, he received a call.
The caller was Suroma’s supreme decision-maker, King Bruce. He said only one sentence to Joiessen:
.....
"Doctor, it's been over a minute!"
On the Beixing craft an observer pinched the time tightly, his expression tense.
Zhang Minglu was even more nervous, frequently watching Adam’s status with anxious steps.
He wanted the mission to succeed more than anyone. If it failed, regardless of whether the Carrier Array could break the Bright Moon’s core and complete the Rules challenge, Beixing would be blamed by all.
Beixing had chosen to defy the Human Consortium's vote and not send Ascendants into the array; as the mentor who trained their official Ascendants he had offered many suggestions.
Therefore he felt even more tense than Guan Tong and Adam—each second felt like a year.
"Shadow, how's your side?" After a moment Adam spoke. "I'm reaching my limit. The gravity field can hold at most about fifteen seconds!"
"Not far now," Guan Tong answered. "But fifteen seconds should be enough."
"Troupe Leader, you must reserve time to retreat," Uenoshi said coldly.
Zhang Minglu quickly added, "She’s right! The Bright Moon has risen above the surface; unlike in deep water, if it's damaged it could erupt a terrifying shockwave. You must be careful!"
"I will."
Guan Tong said. He had already guided the Shadow that pierced the Bright Moon to extend forward an unknown distance.
According to observer data, to ensure success they had to destroy at least two-thirds of the core—no small distance given the sphere's enormous diameter.
12, 11, 10...
Guan Tong silently counted down the gravity field’s remaining seconds.
8, 7, 6, 5...
He pushed the Shadow’s lateral extension speed to the limit, reserve Mind Power depleting like rushing water.
4, 3, 2...
A violent disturbance of Mind Power swept his body—Adam's gravity field was dissipating.
1!
At the last second, the cross-sectional Shadow popped out from the other side of the Bright Moon, completing the lateral penetration.
Guan Tong activated his ability.
Substantial-Ins substantial shift!
That hair-thin veil of phantasmal Shadow instantaneously became physical.
Time seemed to freeze; the outcome he expected did not happen.
The Bright Moon did not erupt with an earthshaking roar like the mountain he had once severed in an experiment. Instead its texture changed.
There was no explosion, no flash, no huge bang. The exposed portion of the pearly water film abruptly coarsened, then countless expanding cracks swelled up, dense like veins.
The solidified Shadow sliced through its core, like destroying the driving gear at the heart of a precision instrument. The mechanism suddenly stopped; inertia brought collapse.
The Lunar Ring surrounding it began to silently disintegrate and peel away. Pale bluish radiance clung to them as they fell like meteor showers toward the sea.
["Bright Moon" has ceased rising]
A prompt sounded in every Ascendant’s mind.
Success?
Guan Tong felt slightly dazed. Cheers erupted through his locator; before he could say anything, his peripheral vision caught a broken rainbow streaking across the sky.
What was that?
The broken rainbow moved like lightning. By the time Guan Tong noticed it, it was already almost upon him.
Zzzt—!
The broken rainbow pierced his entire chest in an instant, easily penetrating his Liu-Jin Guardian defensive card and the protective shield that Mind Power Flow had spontaneously formed.
The last thing he heard was the cheering in the locator changing abruptly into howls and screams. The last thing he realized was that what had impaled his body was not really a broken rainbow at all, but a laser beam.
.....
Ten minutes earlier.
After hearing King Bruce's words, Joiessen set down the phone with a strange, hesitant expression.
Still, he went to the observation area on the transport and ordered the observers: "New task. You must scout Ascendants in the waters around the Bright Moon."
"Scout Ascendants?" The observers were puzzled.
"This is His Majesty's direct order. The Senate believes hostile forces may try to sabotage our operation. We must find and stop the enemy!"
The observers were surprised. One asked, "Hostile forces? Could it be the Fire Thief Worship Cult?"
"Possible. Don't ask so many questions. Follow orders."
They nodded and began working.
Soon they reported they had found nothing.
"Found nothing?" Joiessen frowned, displeased with the result.
One observer looked helpless. "Dean Joiessen, our scouting abilities are mostly tied to Mind Power. If the hostile Ascendants don't use abilities or use them very covertly, it's difficult to find them in the vast ocean."
Joiessen's mind moved. "So if the enemy uses abilities, you can find them?"
"If the ability is obvious, yes."
"Then watch the Bright Moon. Hostile forces will use abilities near the Bright Moon to sabotage the operation; follow the Mind Power flow to trace the user!"
His words deepened their confusion.
Gill, who could detect frequencies, asked, "Dean Joiessen, if an enemy wants to sabotage this operation, why would they use abilities near the Bright Moon? Wouldn’t they rather strike our transport planes?"
Joiessen shot Gill a look. "Did you forget what I just said? Observers don't need to ask too much. This is His Majesty’s order; obey."
Gill shrugged and fell silent.
The observers knew Joiessen wouldn't lie using King Bruce's name, so they agreed and refocused on the Bright Moon.
"Remember, once you detect an enemy's Mind Power signature, immediately trace it, lock its coordinates, and notify me by comm."
Joiessen finished and went to the action cabin.
The Carrier Array device sat fixed before the firing window. Andrew and the other Ascendants linked to the array waited there.
Each of them had a blinking marker attached—a special Ascendant’s ability from Suroma that could link many Ascendants together to jointly use a device.
Seeing Joiessen approach, Andrew stood excitedly. "Dean, coordinates are locked. We can activate the array and fire the high-energy laser!"
"Don't rush," Joiessen said. "It's not the best moment yet. The coordinates might change."
"Change coordinates?" Andrew frowned. "Why? Isn't the Bright Moon's core already locked? Even if it's still rising, the core's range is so large the coordinates shouldn't need adjustment."
Joiessen patted Andrew's shoulder with a smile. "Leave that to the experts. Don't worry about it. Andrew, you should think about life as a hero after this."
Andrew felt uneasy but, seeing Joiessen's friendly smile, couldn't pinpoint why. He nodded.
But the strangest thing was the Ascendants participating in the array.
Andrew admitted that since boarding he had been on edge—not afraid of others, but afraid those Ascendants might suddenly turn on him!
He had seen online threats that if chosen for the array people would sabotage it, even kill the device bearer.
Those rumors made Andrew anxious; he had asked Joiessen about it. Joiessen assured him the Ascendants in the array were altruistic, willing to sacrifice themselves to help others.
Andrew had doubted it, but when he saw the Ascendants he realized Joiessen was telling the truth.
They were obedient, perhaps too obedient—quiet, no fuss. Not even a complaint.
That level of compliance felt eerie to Andrew.
These nearly three thousand elite fighters had come to die, and they knew they would die. Yet they didn't complain—were they even human? Even saints would find it hard to be so docile.
Though strange, their lack of trouble comforted Andrew. He didn't expect Joiessen to come back and say coordinates might be changed just as the operation was about to start...
Moments later Joiessen's earpiece received an observer report.
"You detected a special Mind Power near the Bright Moon? Immediately trace its source and give me the coordinates!"
Seconds later, the Fire Thief prompt sounded:
["Bright Moon" has stopped rising]
"Wha—what?!"
Andrew trembled, unable to believe his ears.
His Carrier Array had not fired yet, how could the Bright Moon stop rising?
"Andrew!" Joiessen's voice snapped him back. "Activate your device immediately and fire at the new coordinates!"
"Ah? But..." Andrew was bewildered. The Bright Moon had stopped—why should he still...
"Do you refuse a command from His Majesty?"
Joiessen's severe rebuke filled Andrew with dread. He did not know what was happening, but if this was an order from the highest authority, he had to obey.
In a daze he activated the Carrier Array. Linked Ascendants funneled their Mind Power into the machine; three thousand high-energy laser modules lit at once, converging into a single point.
A super high-energy laser beam, like a broken rainbow, shot from the Carrier Array and tore across the sky.
