Chapter 199: Star Dust Resonance, the World-Eating Shadow

The smoke from the wrench’s explosion had not yet cleared, and the chaos from Liyana’s unleashed annihilation shockwave still raged. Xiang Lingna struggled against the cold wall, her right arm’s crystal throbbing with searing pain from forcibly resisting the blast, her mouth filled with the taste of rust. Ai Li broke free from the mechanical sentinels amid the turmoil, darting back to the sealed chamber’s gate, her icy eyes sweeping over Liyana’s rapidly deteriorating condition and the enemies surging from outside, her face as grim as iron.

“Lingna! Suppress Liyana’s energy! The crystal… it’s turning against her!” Ai Li’s voice carried urgent, unyielding command. Liyana’s outburst was not only harming enemies—it was accelerating her own death! The suppressed annihilation spores within her, stirred by the Doctor’s remote will and the recent surge of murderous intent, were now raging in violent counterattack!

Lingna gritted her teeth against the pain and lunged to Liyana’s side. Seeing Liyana’s ashen face and the wildly pulsing dark-purple crystal, her heart felt torn apart. She extended her intact left hand, reaching to touch Liyana—but was repelled by the chilling annihilation aura radiating from the crystal. Her right arm’s crystal hummed violently; the chaotic energy within craved this same-source annihilation force, but Lingna knew: if she consumed it, she would only spur the crystal to drain Liyana’s life even faster!

What do I do?!

Just as Lingna stood helpless, the faint star-dust core on Lin Mo’s chest flickered once more—weakly, yet this time not randomly, but with a clear, anxious pulse of intent, like the dying breath of a candle, directly echoing in Lingna’s mind:

【Lingna… guide… my light… into the sapling… stabilize… her… order…】

Brother Lin Mo! He’s awake? No—it’s an extremely faint consciousness transmitting a message! Guide his star-dust light… into the sapling? Stabilize Sister Liyana’s order?

Lingna instantly understood! The root of Liyana’s loss of control was the annihilation spores’ destruction of life’s order! Lin Mo’s star-dust energy carried order and hope—and that sapling, symbiotic with the star-dust crystal, was the very embodiment of order! Perhaps it could become a bridge to stabilize Liyana’s internal order!

Without hesitation, Lingna focused her mind, attempting to connect with Lin Mo’s faint star-dust core. Miraculously, when the emerald veins in her right arm’s crystal glowed, the resonance with Lin Mo’s core became startlingly clear! She carefully guided that faint but resilient star-dust light, like drawing a thread of breeze, directing it toward the emerald soil at the chamber’s center, feeding it into the weary sapling’s roots.

Hum!

In the instant the star-dust light touched it, the sapling’s leaves trembled slightly! Its emerald radiance surged back to life! The thorned crescent patterns on its leaves began to swirl, emitting a gentle yet resolute wave of order! This wave rippled outward like water, softly enveloping Liyana’s body.

A miracle occurred!

The wildly writhing dark-purple veins within Liyana, bathed in the sapling’s order-light, melted and shrank like snow under sunlight! The purple glow pulsing from the crystals on her forehead and chest dimmed as if suppressed, and the rate of life-force extraction slowed noticeably! Liyana’s twisted expression eased, her ragged breathing steadying into slow, deep rhythms.

It worked! Lingna’s heart surged with joy! Brother Lin Mo’s method was right!

Yet the crisis outside had not ended! The corrupted horde had breached Ai Li and Ling’s temporary defense line and reached the outer gates of the core chamber! Heavily armored corrupted ogres, mechanical sentinels, bio-spiders spewing corrosive slime… cold weapons and crimson compound eyes locked onto everyone inside the chamber!

“Gate… defense… about to breach!” Ling’s alarm blared.

Ai Li stood at the narrow gate entrance like the last reef. Her alloy shortblade was dulled and chipped; fresh wounds, deep enough to reveal bone, marred her body, black shadow-erosion creeping along their edges—but her gaze remained sharp as a blade. Ling’s control console hovered behind her, its remaining energy weapons firing precise bursts at approaching enemies, but the firepower was a drop in the ocean.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Heavy impacts hammered relentlessly against the thick alloy gate! The gate shuddered violently; its sealing edges warped and cracked! It could withstand only a few more strikes!

Lingna stared at the sea of enemies outside, at Ai Li barely holding on, at Liyana and Lin Mo just stabilized, then at the star-dust crystal and sapling in the chamber—still glowing, yet dimmer by a fraction… A desperate resolve rose within her—she must buy time for the sapling! Buy a sliver of hope for Brother Lin Mo and Sister Liyana!

She surged to her feet, her right arm’s crystal blazing once more with intertwined dark-purple and emerald light! No longer guarding the chamber, she charged toward the gate!

“Lingna! Come back!” Ai Li barked.

“Ling! Cover me!” Lingna didn’t turn, her voice resolute, final. She reached Ai Li’s side, raised her right arm high, and unleashed the chaotic energy within in a furious surge!

“Protect her!” Ling instantly understood Lingna’s intent; the console unleashed full firepower, azure beams raining like a storm upon the front-line corrupted ogres, momentarily halting their charge!

“Get… OUT!” Lingna roared, deafening! The chaotic energy, concentrated to its peak, no longer fired beams—but erupted as a semicircular, solidified, tangible wave of chaos, centered on her, crashing outward into the surging corrupted horde!

Boom—roar—roar—roar—!!!

Like an invisible tsunami exploding! Violent chaotic energy, fused with transformed annihilation traits, slammed into the enemy ranks! The front-line corrupted ogres were shredded and carbonized as if caught in a meat grinder! Mechanical sentinels’ energy shields flickered wildly, then shattered, their metal shells twisted and crushed! The bio-spiders’ corrosive slime evaporated instantly!

A wide stretch of the narrow corridor was instantly cleared! Mangled limbs and shattered metal fragments flew everywhere! Lingna’s all-out strike had temporarily halted the enemy advance!

But the cost was immense! Her right arm’s crystal groaned under unbearable strain, fine cracks spreading across its surface! Her body swayed, one knee buckling to the ground, gasping for breath, her strength nearly drained.

“Lingna!” Ai Li caught her.

At that moment—another transformation!

An indescribable, infinitely more terrifying cold will—ten thousand times more oppressive than any before—descended like a world-ending frost, freezing and solidifying the entire Prism Nexus fragment! Time itself seemed to halt!

All lights in the chamber extinguished! Ling’s console flickered violently, blaring overload alarms! Ai Li and Lingna felt invisible hands crushing their throats, unable to breathe! The remaining corrupted creatures froze in place, trembling violently!

A vast, incomprehensible shadow, composed of pure darkness and dark-purple energy, rose slowly from beyond the dome of the core chamber—like a specter emerging from the deepest abyss. At its center, two points of icy, starlike purple light slowly opened, gazing down at the ants below with utter indifference.

The Doctor’s true will projection! Far stronger than in the Elf Ruins! He… had come himself!

【Farce… ends now.】 The cold intent, like cosmic law, seared into every soul.

With his thought, a colossal dark-purple energy hand—formed of pure annihilation, vast enough to cover the entire chamber’s dome—slowly coalesced. The hand descended, and space groaned under its weight, cracking open countless fine black fissures.

Annihilation! Absolute, irresistible annihilation! Before this power, Lingna’s earlier explosion was but a firefly beside the sun!

For the first time, despair filled Lingna and Ai Li’s eyes. Even Ling’s data streams froze momentarily.

Yet, at the very instant this doom descended—

Lin Mo, quietly lying in the corner, shielded by the sapling’s order-light, suddenly blazed with an unprecedented, last-glow radiance from his faint star-dust core! The light pierced the chamber, even piercing the Doctor’s terrifying will-pressure!

A weaker, yet piercingly truthful pulse of intent—like a final cry—echoed into Lingna, Ai Li, and Ling’s minds:

【Beware… it’s not a projection… it’s… the larva… of the World-Eating Maw! Its target… is not us… but… the star-dust crystal… and… the sapling! They… are… the key… to repairing… the spatial rifts… and… the nourishment… the World-Eating Maw… craves!】

The World-Eating Maw?! Wasn’t that the ultimate calamity of Volume Ten’s finale? The Doctor carried its larval avatar?! And the star-dust crystal and sapling… were the key to repairing spatial rifts… and the very food the World-Eating Maw desired?!

This earth-shattering revelation exploded like a final thunderclap in the abyss of despair!