Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
In the face of such a strange phenomenon, I was at a loss as to what to do.
Sandora, who had been consumed by the force of the Abyss, suddenly flew up into mid-air. She looked down at me from the sky as black energy-flames kept stretching upwards. It looked almost like they were trying to get rid of some kind of shackles. Although I was slow to recognize any forms of energy, I could feel an intense, tyrannical will coming from these flames. As a direct contrast to all of these things, Sandora continued to smile warmly at me. It was almost as if she did have no idea that her body was transforming.
I guess nobody would have expected that Sandora, who had led so many warriors in the fight against the force of the Abyss for so many years, had already been consumed by the force of the Abyss itself a long time ago. She was now a part of them.
I tried to contact Pandora, but unsurprisingly, my connection with everything in the outside world had been cut off.
It looked like I had reached the end. A man from Earth, who could only complete the most basic of expeditions from Xyrin, was going to fight a Xyrin Emperor who had been consumed by the force of the Abyss. Even the most ridiculous novels could not defy a plot like this, could they? What a pity, this book is coming to an end just like that.
For some reason, at that moment, there was complete peace in my heart. Could it be that I had been somewhat prepared from the start?
Qianqian, Big Sister, Pandora, I’m sorry. It looks like I would not be able to say my farewells to you…
“Hey! Wake up! Why are you daydreaming?”
At that moment, just as I was saying to my friends and family in my heart, a low yet familiar voice sounded in my ear. I suddenly got pulled back to reality and watched as Sandora’s black, flaming claw tugged at the collar of my shirt carefully. The force of the Abyss’ flames was almost touching my face.
“Hu… you’ve finally noticed me,” Sandora said excitedly when she saw that I had regained my composure. “You’re quite awesome. I’m so beautiful, and yet you can pay no attention to me and even start daydreaming.”
…I was scared into silence, alright?!
Wait, what was happening? Something was amiss, wasn’t it?
I carefully observed Sandora’s expression but could not find any intention on her part to hurt me. If one completely ignored how scary the right side of her body looked, they would find that Sandora resembled a little child, showing off her new toy.
I felt the corners of my mouth twitch. After such a long time, Sandora was just trying to show off to me her new Abyss-mode? Was she taking this manifestation of the Abyss as her new toy?
“Interesting, isn’t it?” Sandora asked, raising her claw (囧1). “Although I had been consumed by the Abyss—half of my body turned into a creature of the Abyss, I did not lose my sanity. In fact, I gained a new lease on life. Can you help me to research what this is all about?”
Research…? What I really wanted to research now was what this fella was thinking about! Are you sure you’re a Xyrin Emperor? Should a personality like that appear in someone like you, who has all the attributes of a big sister and the identity of a queen? If you were a little Lolita like Pandora, perhaps I would have found it easier to accept it.
“Sandora,” I said, subtly trying to dodge her ‘claw’, “don’t tell me that you purposely lured the others away and brought me all the way here just to tell me this.”
“That’s it!” Sandora said matter-of-factly, “Only you are fit to interact with me here, aren’t you?”
“En?!” I was thrown off by Sandora’s words. “There are so many other people here. Why is it just me who’s fit to interact with you?”
Sandora looked at me strangely and said, “Their level of authority is different. Only you and I are Xyrin Emperors. In other words, only you are fit to interact with me. People with lower authority cannot interact with people with higher authority, other than to receive and obey instructions. That’s hardly interacting. Ah, that’s right. Simply put, this is complete information sharing.”
I finally understood why Sandora looked so weird to me and looked nothing like a Xyrin Emperor should.
The hierarchical system in the Xyrin Empire was much stricter than I thought. On one level, the connection between them was as close as family. However, on another level, their own appreciation of their respective ranks was extremely high. In Sandora’s eyes, people with lower authority than her had no right to interact with her at all. Of course, the ‘interaction’ here was not the same as interaction as humans knew it. It should be referred to instead as ‘complete information sharing’.
Obviously, a person with higher authority could not share all of his or her information with someone with lower authority. For this reason, Sandora looked like a heroic, female empress in front of others. However, in front of me, she looked like a mischievous, cute, and severely insane girl-next-door.
Once I figured all of this out, I felt much more at peace. After such a long time, I realized that it had just been a false alarm. Sandora was showing me her Abyss-mode, just as a form of complete information sharing between Xyrin Emperors. En, in Earth-language, she was just showing off her new toy.
“Heaven knows what’s wrong with you.” How could I find out why Sandora was now structured in this way? Up till now, what I knew about the Abyss was just like a collection of legends and myths. I only knew it was the most terrifying thing in the universe; how could I help Sandora analyze what was happening to her?
When she heard my answer, Sandora nodded dejectedly and said, “That’s right. You’re lacking important information so you won’t be able to come up with anything.”
In fact, even if you gave me enough information, I probably would not be able to come up with anything.
At that moment, I suddenly recalled something. I asked, “Sandora, do you have any missing soldiers?”
“Missing soldiers?” Sandora asked, tilting her head to the side. “All the members of the Xyrin Army are directly connected to me spiritually. In theory, none of the soldiers’ locations would be unknown. Ah, that’s right, there was one!”
“Are you sure? How long ago was that?”
“1,235 years ago. A heavily-armed, attacking, mechanical armor was broken into pieces by a dragon that used spatial magic. The whereabouts of the driver were unknown. How did you know one of my soldiers was lost?”
“Actually…” At that moment, I explained to Sandora everything regarding the remains. I also told her about the Ethereal Beacon that brought us here.
“An Ethereal Beacon and the ruins of a tomb which had a Xyrin Defensive System set up…” Sandora mumbled. “It looks like our missing soldier was brought into your planet by turbulence in time and space. Since his Ethereal Beacon was broken, there was no way for him to return. However, he must have set this world to be the return coordinates on his Beacon.
That was why when Pandora’s Ethereal Beacon resonated with that soldier’s, you were sent to this planet. From the looks of it, that soldier had really done well. Once we get to your world, I have to make a trip to the remains to take a look. Wait, Chen Jun, carbon-based beings rule your world, right?”
I nodded and said, “Of course.”
“They shouldn’t be very strong, right? At the very least, from the way you became seriously injured after I knocked into you, I guess that your peers would be extremely weak.”
I awkwardly answered, “The human body is really not very impressive. Even on Earth, humans are considered pretty weak. However, since we have mastered science and technology, we still stand at the top of the hierarchy of all the living beings on Earth.”
“Could humans 1,235 years ago kill a Xyrin Warrior?” Sandora asked.
“Impossible!” I replied without any hesitation. “1,235 years aside, even given humans’ state of technology now, an average-sized army would need to be activated to kill a Xyrin Warrior. As for Xyrin Commanders or Xyrin Apostles like Pandora, one army alone probably would not suffice.”
“Well, then how did that soldier who accidentally descended to Earth die?”
Sandora’s words immediately caught my attention. That’s right. As half-energy, half-matter beings, Xyrin Apostles were practically immortal. What’s more, given their strength, they were probably as undefeatable as gods were to humans back then. There must have been something wrong with the tomb that we saw, then.
At that moment, I saw a beam of light suddenly rise out of the base, not far away from us. The Army’s Teleport was ready.
“Let’s leave that question aside for now,” I said as I waved my hand. “Let’s get out of this wretched place, first.”
Sandora nodded and replied, “It’s about time I said goodbye to this world. Just as we agreed, you can go back first. I will gather with you after a few days.”