Free Web NovelChapter 823: Chapter 732: Alone on the Thorny and Poisonous Path (2)
Solomon tried to touch the shards, wanting to pry them out of his body, but every touch brought a soul-searing pain from the fragments.
Solomon thrashed and howled, flailing his arms wildly, venting his rage in madness as everything around was swallowed by the surging shadows!
"Now, you’re no longer unkillable."
Chichu Chun’s gaze was calm as Ning Ran.
"Agares!" Solomon roared, "Agares!!"
"Master."
Sensing the call, Agares’ expression turned anxious.
Just as he was about to rush over to support, the firepower grid from the two cruisers Reitseira and Dawn Rose swept over, and the mechanical sandworm beneath him let out a wail.
Boom!
The battleship’s annihilation cannon pierced through his force field; Agares’ chest was blown open, and the extreme unwillingness and fury made him turn back to retaliate. At the same time, even more fire poured down, leaving him no time to care about Solomon.
"You think this can kill me?" Solomon shrieked, "How ridiculous!"
Shadows surged upward in a frenzy, wave after wave rushing toward Chichu Chun. The red-haired girl cleaved the tide apart, advancing alone within it, her blade’s edge aimed straight at Solomon!
This was her only chance to kill him.
Boom!
A shell screamed over; Chichu Chun’s pupils trembled slightly as black spider legs wrapped around her, blocking the force of the explosion.
"What are you doing, Snt?"
Chichu Chun demanded.
"As you can see, Patriarch Miss." Snt spread his hands, his expression fanatical and devout.
"I’m reclaiming the Life Staff!"
At the same time, Solomon was also struck by shells; the void barrier lost its function and he too was exposed to the army’s firepower, swaying unsteadily amid the furious bombardment.
Countless gun ports aligned in unison toward her and Solomon, firing in volleys.
"Idiots." Chichu Chun braced against the incessant bombardment, explosions blasting her backward step after step.
"Let me kill him first!"
"Apologies." Snt’s expression darkened, "Whether it’s you or Solomon, you’re both obstacles to the Company."
Solomon laughed, a manic cackle. Flames clung to him like maggots on bone, devouring his sand-gray robe completely; he strained to spread his arms wide.
"Even at a time like this, humans are still tearing each other apart for a scrap of firefly’s profit. That’s why I say, you are the most contemptible of species!"
Shard after shard was squeezed out by his newly grown flesh. He no longer spared a glance at Chichu Chun beside him; his wounds visibly knit themselves together as he walked step by step into the interior of the "Miracle of the City Builder" through the baptism of artillery fire. The dark tide bowed beneath his feet—Solomon was treading a road of coronation.
Noticing the flickering, unstable golden walls, Chichu Chun realized the "Miracle of the City Builder" was about to reverse. This was when the "Crimson Dancer" was at its weakest—he was about to fuse with the Life Staff!
"Snt!!"
Rage completely devoured Chichu Chun’s heart; she burned with fury at the betrayal of those she had protected, and at humanity’s ignorance and arrogance.
A once-familiar scene replayed itself: dragging her monstrous, ruined body, she faced the artillery from the very people she had come to protect. Staring at that sand-gray back heading toward the "Crimson Dancer," a deep disgust and helplessness flooded Chichu Chun’s chest.
Even if she had killed March... even if she had planted poisonous seeds in Solomon one after another, she still could not change the course of tonight’s ending.
Chichu Chun fell silent.
A shell slammed into her chest; raging flames swallowed half her body. Chichu Chun collapsed into the dark tide. This time she could no longer stand; the surging darkness ate away at her body, bit by bit devouring her sight, even squeezing out the very last trace of light.
On the edge of the battlefield, some officers who sensed that something was wrong ordered their subordinates to cease fire, but against the tide of events, this was no more than the glimmer of a firefly.
A crimson beam descended from the sky; countless armored vehicles turned to ash within it. The ground was left with horrific burn marks. It was Vashak and Agares. Tragically, on this scorched earth consumed by war, they were the only figures striking back for the girl.
Even so, they were merely clearing the obstacles in the way of the new emperor’s coronation.
Fate’s mockery reached its peak at this moment.
Ignoring the artillery behind him, Solomon walked up to the "Crimson Dancer," his eyes already filled with fanaticism.
"Master..." Agares wept, tears streaming down his face.
Yes, Solomon had gathered all the conditions required to become the new emperor.
That night, Chichu Chun had given him inspiration. He mimicked the girl’s actions—that brain was his masterpiece, infused with the Stone of No Color provided by the Witches. It could not open a new Insect Race network, but it could let him break free of the original network and escape the shackles of the Insect Emperor’s will.
For this, he had schemed and labored for many years.
The New Nara City incident had proven the feasibility: those parasites that had fallen out of the Insect Race network could still remain active, and this was the truth he needed to verify.
Using the Stone of No Color, he had created countless bodies for himself, but without exception they all dissolved, unable to serve as vessels for his rebirth.
So he simply set his sights on the Life Staff. He had noticed the "Crimson Dancer": the Life Staff had seized her broken body, fused with the heart of the Eight-Spider Nest Mother, and become an entirely new life!
Next, he only needed to fuse with the Life Staff, and he would be able to grant himself a flawless, perfect body!
To become the new emperor ascending the throne, to replace the Eight-Spider Nest Mother, and become the supreme executor of the Insect Race network.
This was what he truly intended to do.
At least, in the eyes of Solomon’s countless followers, this was the truth of the matter.
"Mother..." Tears streamed down Solomon’s face. "I have finally found you a perfect vessel."
"You can finally cast off that crippled body, the curses of the past..."
He lifted the "Crimson Dancer" up and began to fuse with the Scepter within her!
Boundless murk spread from beneath his robes across the entire world, and hollow whispers reverberated in the air!
95%...
96%...
97%...
The "Builder’s Miracle" was inching closer and closer to the threshold of reversal; the "Crimson Dancer" had grown weak to the extreme. In the instant of infinitely approaching reversal, Solomon would be able to complete the stripping and fusion of the Scepter!
98%...
"Filthy Insect scum, don’t even think about it!"
Solomon froze for a moment and turned around. Somehow, a Titan had crawled up behind him; as the hatch opened, a young man’s frail figure tumbled out.
"Li Mingqing!?" someone cried out in shock.
"Young Master!" Okber blanched in terror.
"Okber, do it!"
Li Mingqing shouted hysterically, his expression deranged.
"The exalted mysteries of life must never, under any circumstances, be defiled by these filthy bugs."
"Get out of my way!" Solomon snarled in a hurried, low voice.
With just a single glance, Li Mingqing’s body began to deconstruct, turning into drifting ash.
"You’ll regret killing me." He laughed.
"Taste the deepest malice of humanity."
Boundless, deathly dread swallowed Solomon whole.
The upheaval in the White Court had been orchestrated entirely by March. After that, the latter had taken control of him, and through him, seized control of the entire corporation, launching this war for the Scepter.
The reason the other side had never dared kill him was that he had already bound his life to the space-based weapons in orbit. Once his vital signs ceased, those mid–Silver Era weapons of annihilation would be triggered.
Now that March was dead, he had broken free of the other’s control, and he could not stand by and watch the Life Staff fall into the hands of a swarm of bugs!
"Incomprehensible Barbarians!!"
Solomon roared in a loss of composure, his figure swallowed by the light of the space-based weapons!
Blazing radiance engulfed the entire world; in that instant the night shone bright as day, as though a God rode forth in a war-chariot, descending upon the world with the Blade of Judgment in hand!
The devastating strike destroyed the "Builder’s Miracle" and annihilated Solomon along with it. Everything within the miracle was obliterated; all signs of life dropped to zero, and all things sank into a deathlike desolation.
In the command center, Snt stood up, and just then, the terminal suddenly detected a faint life signal. Even though it was but a trace, a hair-raising shudder still crept up Snt’s spine.
The dust and smoke dispersed,
and still, a crimson figure stood upon the scorched earth. Her ruined body was regenerating; her surging aura sent every data reading on the terminal leaping higher and higher...
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Her eyes opened; the murk faded, becoming clear, and her heartbeat thundered like rolling storm. A crimson Giant Blade cleaved open the veiled sky, descending behind her. The girl’s hand rested on the hilt of the ancient Battle Blade, her skin as pale and immaculate as that of a newborn infant.
It was the "Crimson Dancer"; she had not been killed.
She had lost control.
