Chapter 200: Thorns in Bloom, The Stardust Return Journey

"Devouring Realm's Throat… larval clone?!" Zero's electronic voice, carrying an unprecedented data storm, instantly parsed the information Lin Mo transmitted. "Spatial rift… repair key… nourishment… database… highest classified… match! Alert! Alert! Annihilation-level threat!"

Xiang Lingna and Sister Ai Li's pupils contracted sharply! The Doctor's heaven-shattering strike was actually aimed at the stardust crystal and the sapling in the secret chamber! They were the key to repairing the spatial rift, and also the nourishment for that terrifying calamity's growth! Once seized or destroyed, not only would they die without question, the entire plane might accelerate its slide toward destruction!

Despair transformed into an even icier chill, yet also ignited the last sliver of resolute, defiant will! Even in death, they absolutely could not let the Doctor succeed!

The dark-purple energy giant hand covering the dome, carrying the aura of annihilating all things, slowly pressed down! Space shattered inch by inch like fragile glass! The metal structures of the core hall emitted piercing, twisted groans and began collapsing in large sections! The secret chamber's gate, under absolute force, was torn apart like paper!

Destruction, in the next second!

"Lingna! The crystal! The sapling!" Sister Ai Li let out a sharp howl, her body erupting with the last of its potential, throwing herself toward the center of the secret chamber without a care! She would seize the moment before the giant hand fell, even if it meant using her body as a shield!

Xiang Lingna moved too! Her right arm's crystal was webbed with cracks, its internal power exhausted, but her will burned to the extreme! She didn't throw herself toward the crystal, but toward that verdant sapling! After Lin Mo's stardust core erupted with its last message, its light rapidly dimmed, nearly extinguished. The sapling was the key to stabilizing Priestess Liyana's order, and also the hope of repairing space! She had to protect it!

However, how could human speed possibly outpace that giant hand covering the firmament?

The dark-purple shadow instantly swallowed the entire secret chamber! Xiang Lingna and Sister Ai Li's figures were drowned! Zero's console flickered wildly amid the terrifying energy turbulence, on the verge of overload and collapse!

At that critical, all-or-nothing instant—

Hum—!!!

An indescribable, vast, ancient radiance of verdant green, carrying endless compassion and the will to protect, suddenly erupted from the roots of the sapling Xiang Lingna had thrown herself toward!

It was the sapling! It was that patch of verdant soil!

The sapling's leaves, beneath the shadow of destruction, did not wither, but instead became crystalline and translucent like jade! The thorned crescent patterns on the leaves erupted with unprecedented, dazzling radiance! The entire sapling, in an instant, shot upward and unfurled, transforming into a colossal, towering phantom thorned ancient tree constructed of pure verdant light!

The ancient tree phantom's roots plunged deep into the soil—no, into the spatial foundation of this Prism Hub fragment! Countless verdant light-roots, like a network, instantly spread to every corner of the fragment's space! The canopy, like the most solid bulwark, slammed fiercely into the descending dark-purple giant hand!

Boom—!!!!

An indescribable roar! Not an explosion of energy, but a collision of spatial rules! Annihilation and creation! Destruction and protection!

The verdant ancient tree phantom trembled violently, its light dimming rapidly, countless light-branches and leaves shattering and scattering in the collision! But it actually… truly temporarily blocked that world-destroying giant hand! The dark-purple giant hand was forcibly held at bay beyond the canopy, unable to advance an inch!

"Wang Ting… the last… World Tree… imprint…" Zero captured the information amid the energy turbulence, "using… the sapling as a guide… the spatial fragment's origin… as root… forcibly manifesting…"

The price was enormous! The sapling's own radiance dimmed sharply, its leaves even beginning to curl! It was burning its remaining foundation and this spatial fragment's last vitality, buying them the final sliver of time!

"Lingna! The crystal!" Sister Ai Li screamed amid the violent tremors! The giant hand was blocked—this was the last chance!

Xiang Lingna understood instantly! She no longer tried to protect the sapling itself (that was now meaningless), but instead spun and threw herself toward the floating stardust crystal! Her target was Lin Mo!

She grabbed that crystal radiating a warm, gentle glow! What met her hand was not cold, but a vast, warm breath of life. Without a care, she rushed toward the barely-breathing Lin Mo in the corner, and slammed the stardust crystal fiercely against the nearly extinguished stardust core on Lin Mo's chest!

"Brother Lin Mo! Wake up!!!"

Hum—!!!

The instant the high-purity stardust crystal made contact with Lin Mo's faint core, it was like a spark igniting dry kindling! The crystal instantly melted, transforming into a milky-white, warm and vast flood of energy that surged madly into Lin Mo's body!

Lin Mo's body jolted violently! A dense, almost tangible milky-white stardust radiance erupted from within him, instantly dispelling the surrounding darkness and aura of annihilation! His tightly shut eyes snapped open! Within his pupils was no longer weakness, but a burning, deep and blazing light like a sea of stars! A powerful pressure, carrying the order of origin, rose from his body!

Lin Mo… had awakened! Infused by the stardust crystal, his power instantly recovered to a state far surpassing before!

His first glance took in the desperate situation before him—the burning sapling phantom was disintegrating inch by inch beneath the annihilation giant hand! The Doctor (Devouring Realm's Throat clone)'s cold will carried shock, fury, and greed! Sister Ai Li grievously wounded and on the brink of death! Xiang Lingna's right arm shattered! Priestess Liyana unconscious! Zero's console dim!

No time for hesitation! Lin Mo's gaze instantly locked onto the burning sapling phantom, and the origin of this spatial fragment where it was rooted. A clear, complete set of spatial coordinate information (precisely the coordinates Lingna had branded from the ancient engine earlier) became incomparably clear within his revived stardust will!

"Zero!" Lin Mo's voice carried an unquestionable authority, like rolling thunder, "Access the spatial fragment core! Channel all remaining energy! Lock coordinates—Stardust Sea Rogue Starfield, X-7 Resource Star! Prepare… forced spatial jump!"

Forced spatial jump?! Under circumstances where space was sealed and the fragment was on the verge of collapse?!

"Energy… insufficient! Spatial structure… extremely unstable! Jump… equivalent to… suicidal… spatial collapse!" Zero's electronic voice carried the cold conclusion of its calculations.

"Then… let it collapse!" Lin Mo's gaze was sharp as starlight. He looked at Xiang Lingna, at Sister Ai Li, at Priestess Liyana, and finally at the thorned ancient tree phantom that was protecting them and about to burn itself out. "Turn the collapsing… energy… into… the jump's… initial thrust! The target… is not to escape… but to… plummet toward… the coordinate point!"

Seek survival within certain death! Using the destructive energy produced by the spatial collapse as "fuel" for the jump engine, forcibly breaking through the blockade to execute a "death jump" doomed to come apart! The destination, that unknown Stardust Sea coordinate!

Zero's core data stream instantly grasped the feasibility of this mad plan (or rather, its exclusivity). No hesitation! "Command… confirmed! Accessing… spatial fragment core… energy channeling… beginning… coordinates… locked… Stardust Sea X-7!"

Hum—!!!

All the energy remaining in the entire Prism Hub fragment—including the turrets still putting up sporadic resistance on the periphery, including the surviving illumination in the core hall, even including the last reserves of Zero's console itself—was forcibly drained! Transforming into blinding streams of energy, they surged madly into the roots of the burning thorned ancient tree phantom—where it connected to the spatial fragment's core!

The thorned ancient tree phantom's radiance surged instantly! It was no longer merely defense, but had become the focal point where the entire spatial fragment's energy converged!

"No—!" Beyond the dome, the Doctor (Devouring Realm's Throat clone)'s cold will erupted with clear shock and fury for the first time! He felt the violent shift in spatial rules, felt the nourishment about to fly from his jaws!

The dark-purple giant hand he controlled erupted with even more terrifying force, pressing down viciously! The thorned ancient tree phantom uttered a final wail, its verdant radiance scattering like shattered glazed glass! The sapling's true form completely withered and turned to ash!

But, at the instant the ancient tree phantom completely shattered—

Rumble rumble rumble—!!!!

Centered on where the thorned ancient tree phantom was rooted, the space of the entire Prism Hub fragment, like a smashed mirror, collapsed with a thunderous crash! Terrifying spatial turbulence surged out like floodwaters breaching a dam!

This destructive spatial collapse energy, under Zero's precise guidance and Lin Mo's forceful constraint of stardust power, did not completely run amok, but instead transformed into a violent, twisted thrust carrying shattered spatial fragments, acting viciously upon this relatively stable region of the core hall!

Hum—!!!

A spatial vortex twisted to the extreme instantly swallowed everyone in the core hall (Lin Mo, Xiang Lingna, Sister Ai Li, Priestess Liyana) along with Zero's console!

At the last instant before space was utterly annihilated and the Doctor's giant hand grabbed down, this spatial fragment that had borne countless battles and sacrifices, along with the last points of light within it, vanished completely into the violent spatial turbulence, leaving behind only a wildly spinning, all-consuming spatial collapse vortex!

The Doctor (Devouring Realm's Throat clone)'s massive phantom hovered at the edge of the violent spatial turbulence, its cold purple light points staring at the collapsing vortex, filled with the fury of being toyed with by ants and a trace of… greed for that unknown coordinate.

【Stardust Sea… X-7… find them! The Devouring Realm… needs… nourishment!】