Chapter 48

62. 【Universal Mega-Corporation, Contracted Slave】

Aboard Topaz's ecological ship, Topaz rested her chin on her hand with a faint melancholy, hugging Numby as she gazed out the window at the river of stars.

"I really want... to see an Aether Dragon with my own eyes..."

Gazing at the brilliant river of stars, Topaz could not help but murmur to herself.

"May Amber Lord bless me to witness an Aether Dragon with my own eyes."

Topaz recalled that some employees of the Corporation would pray to Amber Lord for promotions and raises,

so she tried clasping her hands tight and praying two or three times; as expected... there was no reaction whatsoever,

within the sea of stars remained nothing but an empty void.

Topaz could not help but let out a sigh...

"Eh?"

Numby, nestled in Topaz's arms, nudged her nose.

"Numby, you make a good point; no matter how great Amber Lord is, He surely cannot govern an Aether Dragon..."

"... Pray to the Emperor of the Calamity Empire? No, no!"

Topaz hastily waved her hands, rejecting Numby's suggestion.

Although she was not a fanatical believer of Amber Lord, and the Calamity Empire had not yet been listed as an enemy by the Corporation,

praying to the Emperor of the Calamity Empire was still just too...

"It seems, perhaps, I could... try?"

Topaz murmured to herself.

She recalled that the ships of the Calamity Empire had resisted the poisonous gas of the Poison Saint by praying to Their Emperor.

Did this not imply that His Majesty the Emperor was... quite efficacious?

"Just once, just once."

Topaz slowly extended her hands, clasped them tightly, and recalled the prayer to the Emperor of the Calamity Empire that had appeared on the light screen in her mind.

"O scorching Lighthouse of Ascension, O Great Dictator gazed upon by the myriad peoples, O deified Prophet who wields the Void Realm..."

"You are the Master of Genes, the Sovereign of Psionics, the Source of Machinery."

"The Lord of all spirituality and knowledge, the Eternal Emperor of humanity, Your Majesty 'Two-Six-Three'..."

"Please bless me, bless me to witness an Aether Dragon with my own eyes..."

As Topaz's prayer faded, she looked left and right, scratched her head, and murmured:

"It seems nothing has changed..."

"Hm?!"

Goosebumps rose all over Topaz's body,

and Numby in her arms instinctively trembled with fear,

for Topaz sensed that just now, some lofty and magnificent gaze had swept past her,

much like a giant sweeping an LED lamp over an ant it held aloft,

plain yet indifferent, magnificent yet sublime...

Topaz was instantly drenched in cold sweat, nearly falling off her chair.

Just at that moment, her ecological ship suddenly began to shake violently.

"Director Topaz!!!"

"We have detected an ultra-large-scale heat source appearing in the stars!"

"Based on the energy coefficient inference, the energy of this heat source is no less than that of a G-type star!"

The terrified shouts of the Corporation employees rang out from the broadcast, their tones filled with fear and worry:

"A G-type star is coming straight for us!!!!"

"Do not panic!" Topaz steadied her headset, sweat trickling down her forehead: "Investigate clearly what the other party is before——————"

"Director! There's no time! The other party is traveling at faster-than-light speeds! They are about to pass us!"

Before the employee's voice could fade from Topaz's ears, she felt the entire starship emit a groan-like tremor, tilting to one side.

"What is it?!" Topaz hugged Numby tightly, ready to initiate a spatial jump with the ecological ship at any moment, and looked out the porthole.

A dragon.

This word surfaced in Topaz's mind.

Scorching scales brushed past the ecological ship's porthole, wings flashing with crimson Lei Ming swept across the Void Realm, and eyes like molten planets scanned over Topaz's ecological ship.

"An Aether Dragon!!!!"

Topaz's voice suddenly rose as she looked at the scene before her in disbelief.

"It is an Aether Dragon!!!!!"

The Aether Dragon did not hear Topaz's exclamation;

she violently flapped her wings, distorted spacetime, and accelerated once more,

the fabric of spacetime emitting a groan as the Aether Dragon turned into a lingering shadow and vanished from before Topaz's eyes in the blink of an eye.

Topaz's heart pounded wildly, and the ecological ship's alarm blared, but she could no longer hear it.

Her mind was filled entirely with the Aether Dragon that had flashed by just now, that magnificent and beautiful figure,

leaving Topaz staring blankly, as if her consciousness had been shattered.

"It worked..."

Topaz involuntarily murmured:

"His Majesty the Emperor of the Calamity Empire has manifested..."

She swallowed hard in disbelief, her heart pounding incessantly, her legs turning to jelly.

"Chief, tell me, how should I fulfill my vow..."

Tophet, a planet destroyed by Nanook's flames,

a world burned to ash, a land bathed in destruction.

Yet even upon the ashes, embers reignite;

upon the land swept by destruction, life may yet be born.

Perhaps Nanook never imagined that upon the land he personally destroyed, a unique new life would emerge,

a fire demon born from myriad flames of destruction, a plasma life jointly nurtured by White Star Blaze and the power of destruction,

this elegant fire demon molded the residual ash of the annihilated star into a crown, revered Nanook as his benefactor, and styled himself Duke of Netherfire, Afrit,

he proclaimed himself the sinful faith of Tophet, the wrath of Nanook, vowing to offer a magnificent destruction to his benefactor...

However, Nanook never paid Afrit any heed.

Nor did he pay any heed to the children Afrit sired to create more destruction.

These children were still young, not yet fully comprehending the true Dao of Destruction.

"Constance, I saw it; while Father was speaking, your face bore melancholy and doubt."

The Tuner, Akash, blocked Dahlia and asked:

"Are you in fear? As a Pathstrider of Destruction, would you fear death?"

"... Akash, Father's speech was somewhat..."

Constance gently rested her chin on her hand, looked at Akash, and did not continue,

instead changing the subject, saying:

"As you know, that Aether Dragon's scales are sufficient for a Great Cosmic Collapse, sufficient for her to survive in a universe that tolerates her existence not."

"Can Father recreate the spectacle of the Great Cosmic Collapse to shatter the Aether Dragon?"

"I imagine even our benefactor, Nanook himself, could not accomplish that?"

"Then you need not feel fear," Akash said, frowning.

"The flames of destruction will eventually descend upon everyone."

"Even the Aether Dragon is no exception."

Seeing Constance still frowning, Akash shook his head:

"Besides, it was merely bold talk."

"What? Could the Aether Dragon suddenly appear above Tophet to settle accounts with us?"

Hearing Akash's joking words, Constance's face remained clouded with sorrow.