"Hmm?" Muria, seated in a warship provided by a congressman of the Earth civilization, was in the middle of deploying ground forces, readying for the final battle. He looked up, his face showing an intrigued expression.
In that instant, a colossal beam, far more massive than any pseudo-divine lightning from Sivali, shot forth from the distance. In a mere blink, it engulfed both Sivali and the warship behind him.
Boom!
In less than a single breath, the nearly three-hundred-meter-long warship shattered under the force of the attack, leaving behind only a few scattered metal fragments; the rest was disintegrated by the devastating energy.
The warship, built from incredibly durable alloys, suffered such a fate under this attack, so one can imagine the outcome for the pilots and crew inside. Most of the humans didn't even have a chance to scream; they were simply vaporized in an instant—a "gentle" death, as they felt no pain at all.
This terrifying attack, seeming capable of obliterating everything in its path, lasted nearly three minutes before it finally ceased. As the attack faded, a menacing presence slowly unfurled in the now-empty line of fire.
"Master, are you alright?" Sivali, who had taken the full impact of the orbital cannon shot, turned to Muria, his face filled with concern. His appearance, however, might scare anyone lacking a strong heart.
"I'm fine!" replied Muria, waving a hand. When the attack, which seemed to be formed of pure radiant energy, hit Sivali, he'd immediately positioned himself behind him. With such a solid shield at his disposal, it would have been foolish to take the blast head-on.
"And how are you feeling?" Muria asked, examining Sivali.
"Master, don't worry about me! I'm perfectly fine; no matter how many of these attacks come my way, I can withstand them all!" Sivali thumped his bloodied chest proudly.
"Oh, really?" Muria looked at the legendary beast, feeling a twinge of pity. He looked rough, with the attack having flayed the flesh from his chest. But for a legend like him, this injury was trivial; as they spoke, the flesh dissolved by the energy blast was already regenerating.
"Absolutely!" Sivali shouted confidently. Having organs transplanted from multiple legendary creatures, he possessed an immense blood energy reserve. Endurance alone set him apart, putting him far above most beings of similar strength.
"Good. Do you see those warships behind you? Hold them off for a while."
Hearing Sivali's confident answer, Muria nodded in satisfaction and pointed toward the approaching fleet of warships, moving in from the distant dark void.
"Rest assured, Master, I'll not only hold them off; given enough time, I'll blow them all up!" Sivali's face was filled with anticipation as he followed Muria's gesture to the endless wave of incoming warships.
"Go on then! Cause as much destruction as possible. And if you can't hold out, don't worry; I'll bring reinforcements right away!"
"Yes, sir!" With Muria's command, Sivali burst forth, a trail of green and blue light streaking toward the hostile fleet, brimming with fighting spirit.
"Send word to my troops!" Watching his chief enforcer in this world charge forward, Muria summoned eight phantom knights he'd been keeping in his subdimension, ordering them to relay his instructions to the Ikorian forces he'd been nurturing.
...
"So, that's the creature that's exceeded overlord level?" Behind the twisted wormhole, the Federal Chancellor watched the footage transmitted from the forward warships, his face full of confusion.
"Does this creature lack any brains? Who gave it the courage to face eighty thousand warships?"
"Chancellor, maybe this super-powered creature thinks it's strong enough to single-handedly annihilate all our Federation warships!"
"Ridiculous! No matter how powerful, it's still a living being, and living beings will eventually run out of strength. Fire tactical nuclear warheads at it; let it feel our strength!"
"Which warships should launch the nukes, Chancellor?"
"Every ship within firing range! Let this beast understand human ingenuity. It dared to underestimate us."
...
"I'll make sure Lord Muria sees what I'm capable of! Just because I can't grow stronger doesn't mean I'm useless; I can still be of service!" Sivali's eyes sparkled with excitement as he looked at the large metallic creations before him. He couldn't help but feel disdain for them.
"I don't need reinforcements; I can dismantle these metal toys myself!"
"Ha! Those tiny beings dare to launch an attack on me first!" Sivali watched as a barrage of missiles trailed bright plumes toward him from the distant warships.
Seeing them approach, Sivali felt a twinge of instinctual alarm. His body warned him that these missiles might pose a genuine threat.
Clang! Clang! Facing the danger, Sivali unsheathed the two scimitars custom-crafted by alchemists just for him and swung them, creating an impenetrable web of blades before him.
Though brash and proud, Sivali fought with utmost caution. Underestimating these insignificant humans could cost him greatly, especially before Muria; it would be humiliating if these feeble attacks could harm him.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Sivali, relying on his combat intuition, preemptively detonated the first wave of nuclear attacks. Tiny suns ignited in the dark void, releasing brilliant light and heat, followed by radiation-laden shockwaves expanding outward.
As the waves reached Sivali, he felt a faint, almost negligible sting before all sensation faded. The nuclear radiation, feared by ordinary humans, proved incapable of any meaningful harm to him; it was far too weak to damage his bloodline or induce any mutations.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Sivali cleaved into the warship cluster, each swipe of his blade sending sparks across the void, cutting through human marvels of technology as if they were mere toys.
But even toys can hurt their handlers. Now that he was close, squadrons of fighters launched from the ships, armed with tactical nuclear missiles aimed at Sivali. Despite his efforts to detonate many of them early, some hit their target directly.
These city-destroying attacks did manage to inflict some damage on Sivali. Yet the wounds healed within a couple of breaths, barely a setback.
"What is that creature? How is it surviving so many nukes without real damage?"
The terrifying strength, defense, and regeneration Sivali displayed as he tore through the warships left every human witness in shock.
"Can we even defeat this monster?" Some watching Sivali absorb dozens of nukes and continue hacking through ships without a scratch began to lose hope.
"We absolutely can! Look carefully; every time a nuke hits, it damages him. This means we have a chance to kill it!"
"But you saw it too; every time he's hurt, he heals quickly!"
"Every time he heals, he loses some energy—this is undeniable. If we keep hitting him with nukes, we'll kill this monster eventually!"
"Impossible! Over three hundred nukes have already hit him, totaling over three billion tons of yield! And still, he's not really injured. Even if we threw every nuke our civilization had, it might not kill him!"
"So we'll have to use unconventional methods. Another strike from the Star-Destruction Cannon!"
"Are you insane? Do you realize the collateral damage to our soldiers from another Star-Destruction Cannon strike?"
"What's the alternative? Let this monster slaughter all our soldiers? Sacrifice a few to save the many, or let everyone die?"
"That cannon takes time to prepare and requires the Chancellor's personal approval."
"I approve," sighed the Chancellor, listening to the argument, a sense of helplessness filling his heart as he watched Sivali wreak havoc.
...
"It seems I made the right choice in appointing Sivali as the vanguard."
Outside Pandora's world, Muria watched Sivali wield his blades against the warships, sparking explosions across the void with satisfaction. He glanced down briefly, where a star-era Ikorian army was breaking through the world's barrier below.
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