Chapter 41: Moonlight Fortress, the Light of Annihilation, and the Doctor

Blinding light swallowed heaven and earth; time seemed to freeze in the instant when the annihilating cannonfire collided with the burning thorns.

On the top platform of the Cleanser, the doctor’s gold-rimmed glasses reflected the flash of destruction; the cold, smug smile on his lips froze, then shattered into disbelief. What he saw was not the target vaporized, but the throne forged from burning thorns and luminous moonlight—standing firm amid a torrent of plasma hot enough to melt steel!

“Impossible! Energy readings… chaotic superposition! Spatial parameters… aberrantly distorted! What power is this?!” The doctor gasped, his voice losing its icy, calculated tone for the first time—replaced only by terror before the unknown. His meticulously designed energy annihilation equation appeared pathetically feeble before this wild, alien-law-infused barrier!

Inside the Thorn Throne, the scene was hellish.

Violent energy impacts seeped through the thorn barrier, forming countless chaotic air currents that tore through space. Lin Mo felt every bone in his body groaning; each breath carried the taste of blood and searing heat. He clung desperately before Ali, the Seed of Life draining its last ounce of power to form a thin yet resilient emerald light membrane, barely holding back the slicing energy currents.

Ali’s condition was worse. To sustain the throne’s core, the Moonlight Crystal trembled violently in her hands, its pure radiance flickering like a candle in the wind. Each strike of the annihilating beam hammered like a sledge against her soul. The corrupted wooden thorn embedded in her chest sank another inch under the energy surge; the agony made her vision darken in waves. Her silver teeth clenched tight, blood continuously oozing from her lips, staining the tattered remnants of her moon-white priestess robe.

“Ugh—!” Ali let out a stifled cry of pain, her body jerking violently. A sickening crack echoed from the throne’s outer wall; several burning thorn pillars, battered continuously by the beam, finally gave way and turned to ash!

A massive gap opened in the thorn barrier! The deadly azure beam, like a venomous dragon finding an outlet, roared inward!

The breath of death enveloped them instantly!

At this critical moment, Ali’s eyes blazed with a resolve to perish together with her enemy! She abandoned all effort to maintain the entire throne, pouring every ounce of her will, every shard of pain, every longing for life and hatred for her foe into the Moonlight Crystal in her hands!

“Lyana—! With the moon as blade—!”

She screamed, her voice piercing through the roar of energy, carrying the ancient rhythm of Elvish!

Hum—!

The Moonlight Crystal erupted in an unprecedented, sunlike brilliance of silver light! This radiance was no longer gentle—it was sharp, piercing through all corruption and annihilation! No longer passive defense, it became a condensed silver column, like a spear of divine judgment piercing darkness, surging upward through the throne’s gap, against the flood of annihilating beams, striking straight at the Cleanser!

Boom—!!!

The dual-colored beams of destruction collided in midair! Silver and azure tore, annihilated, and devoured each other in furious struggle! Space twisted violently, forming visible ripples! A terrifying shockwave exploded outward in a perfect sphere from the point of impact!

Crack! Crack-crack!

The Cleanser’s seemingly indestructible pale blue energy shield shattered like glass struck by a sledgehammer, instantly spiderwebbed with cracks. Then, before the doctor’s horrified gaze, the shield emitted a final, agonized groan and exploded into fragments!

Though the silver spear was mostly neutralized by the annihilating beam, the remaining fragments—infused with the Moonlight’s purifying energy—rained down like a storm upon the Cleanser’s thick armor plating!

Hssss—!

A grating, nauseating corrosion sound rose! Where the silver fragments struck, the armor instantly lost its cold metallic luster, as if doused in strong acid—darkening, softening, even beginning to melt! Beneath the plates, intricate wiring and piping were exposed, sparking dangerously. One particularly thick fragment struck precisely at the main cannon’s base connection!

“Alarm! Force field collapsed! Main armor subjected to unknown energy corrosion! Structural integrity down to 43%! Main cannon base damaged! Unable to maintain stable charging!” Alarming sirens shrieked wildly inside the Cleanser!

“No—! My masterpiece!” The doctor’s heart cracked as he stared at the “rust” and melted craters marring his ultimate weapon’s shell—this hurt more than death itself. The symbol of his power over the wasteland was being defiled, destroyed!

After unleashing its final strike, the Thorn Throne could no longer hold. The burning thorns snapped and dissolved one by one; the moonlight faded entirely. The crystal in Ali’s hands turned dull gray, its luster gone, fine cracks now visible on its surface. Her body went limp, collapsing backward; Lin Mo caught her, his hands meeting icy skin, her breath barely there.

In the center of the depression, only a vast circular crater remained—formed from thorn debris and charred earth—within it, the two wounded figures leaned on each other.

On the Cleanser, the doctor’s face shifted from shock and rage to utter darkness. He stared down at Lin Mo, still standing though trembling, his gaze unbroken; at the Moonlight Crystal, drained yet having crippled his fortress; at the horrific damage on his own vehicle…

“Target… threat level… reassessing…” The doctor’s voice was ice-cold, choked with suppressed fury, “Spatial node… extradimensional energy… must be secured! Cleanser, initiate emergency extraction protocol! Coordinates: Main Base! Withdraw!”

He could not risk it. Though the Thorn Throne was gone, the stranger’s strange power unsettled him. More importantly, the Cleanser was severely damaged—especially its armor, corroded by that silver light—and its defenses were crippled. He dared not gamble whether the enemy had more tricks. He had gathered enough intelligence on the spatial node and energy source; he needed to return, repair his fortress, and gather stronger forces!

The Cleanser’s massive frame groaned in protest, its damaged main cannon hanging limply, treads turning as it crushed through ruins, rolling away in a cloud of dust, retreating toward its origin. Its silhouette was no longer that of an invincible juggernaut—but one of disgrace and bitter hatred.

Watching the steel giant vanish into the dust, Lin Mo’s taut nerves snapped. His vision darkened; he collapsed onto the blackened earth, still clutching unconscious Ali. The Wrench and Lingna scrambled out from their cover, faces a mix of elation at survival and boundless dread.

The depression lay in deathly silence. In Ali’s hand, the Moonlight Crystal’s cracks slowly spread a faint purple stain—alive, creeping. Farther, deep within the withered forest, at the edge of the silver purified land weakened by the crystal’s overdrawn power, a pair of murky yellow eyes slowly opened, greedily locking onto the even weaker Lyana atop the World Tree’s remains.