Across the Xianzhou Fanghu, the Abundance army had fully assembled, now within charging distance.
"Charge into the Fanghu—seize the divine artifact!"
As this command fell, the Abundance army erupted like a pot of boiling oil, becoming even more savage.
All the engines of the borisin's mechabeasts roared, spewing furious plumes of fire while these monstrous living spaceships charged forward, while the sky-darkening wings of the wingweavers and the roaring of countless abominations with grotesque forms surged together like a tidal wave, also charging toward the Xianzhou Fanghu that loomed just ahead.
In response, the Xianzhou Fanghu's defensive cannons flickered weakly to life, like the feeble arms of a mantis raised against a chariot.
However, at that very moment of impending annihilation...
*Buzz!*
Suddenly, the entire space froze without warning—not metaphorically, but literally froze.
Charging mechabeasts, flapping wings of wingweavers, roaring of various abominations—they all halted mid-motion, suspended eerily in the space as if the universe itself had hit pause.
Even the light of distant stars dimmed for an instant.
An indescribable, boundless, vengeful pressure soon descended upon the battlefield, drowning every being in terror!
In an instant, the abominations had their greed and frenzy replaced by sheer, paralyzing fear.
Some of the graceful wingweavers shrieked as their feathers bristled in panic, while some of the monstrous abominations, as if thrown into boiling water, began to dissolve—silently, helplessly, collapsing into nothingness!
In the next second, a colossal, unexpected silhouette appeared amidst the sea of stars.
It was the silhouette of a person with centaur-like features, their lower half replaced by an equine body, while the hind legs were replaced by blue fire-like wheels of a chariot.
They had light blue skin and long, flowing sky-blue hair with periwinkle accents that reached past their waist, while their face was obscured by a black mask with a white star in the middle, which extended to their black headpiece.
What made their appearance striking, however, was the glowing, light blue-purple bow they wielded.
"I-It's the Reignbow Arbiter!"
Inside the Seat of Seiche Queller, someone suddenly cried out.
Indeed, that silhouette was none other than the projection of the Aeon of the Hunt, Lan—the Reignbow Arbiter the Xianzhou Alliance worshiped had descended in person!
Glaciator Marum, Xuanquan, Jingtian, Yao Guang—every soul who witnessed the battlefield stood in utter shock.
It couldn't be helped.
THEIR projection meant that Lan was personally watching this war.
Such divine attention was enough to send every Xianzhou person into ecstatic frenzy!
It was only natural.
Having the Aeon of the Hunt on their side, as long as friendly fire didn't occur, this war was already a guaranteed victory!
"Hell yeah! With the Reignbow Arbiter stepping in, how the hell could we lose?!"
One of the Cloud Knight's captains slammed the table in excitement, his blood boiling with renewed vigor.
'Is this what that Celestial Master means...?'
'A cheat, huh...?'
Glaciator Marum and Xuanquan both turned toward Lucian's projection, looking stunned.
A war they were fated to lose, yet somehow, Lucian had pulled something that summoned an Aeon THEMSELF.
'We divine by using hexagrams, but he uses actual cheats...'
Yao Guang was equally shaken, unable to process what had just happened.
In truth, she had expected maybe some infighting among the enemy, perhaps a bit of reinforcement, or one of the other Arbiter-Generals showing up to turn the tide.
But to literally rewrite fate by calling down the Aeon of the Hunt?
It undoubtedly defied every rule of the universe.
Fu Xuan stared, eyes wide, at Lan's projection.
In all her life, she had never seen the Aeon of the Hunt's appearance, let alone the real thing—at best, she had only ever observed a flash of THEIR divine arrow through her divinations.
But now?
Her own master had somehow used his fate-altering ability to summon the Reignbow Arbiter THEMSELF!
Wasn't that just... unstoppable?
'No wonder I chose him as my master…' Fu Xuan thought with awe. 'He really defies heaven itself...'
At the same time, Lucian's lips curved upward slightly as he looked upon Lan's divine projection.
Truth be told, he hadn't expected that the Aeon of the Hunt would personally project THEMSELF onto the battlefield.
According to the original course of events, Jingtian was supposed to use the Cloudpeer Telescope to send Lan the Xianzhou Fanghu's coordinates—after which THEY would fire the Sky-Shattering Lux Arrow from afar, annihilating the Abundance army, but also destroying the Fanghu and killing countless citizens in the process.
Yet, under the forced intervention of Sham Diviner, Lan had instead manifested THEIR projection on the battlefield directly—to witness the battlefield THEMSELF.
'Sham Diviner... is truly a fascinating ability...'
Lucian sat in the strategic conference room inside the Seat of Seer Strategist, observing the war unfolding millions of light-years away, watching Lan's projection that radiated majesty and overwhelming divinity.
In fact, Lan didn't even know the Abominations of Abundance were gathered here.
THEY had merely felt a pull—an instinct—to glance toward this region of space, and upon doing so, here they were, an entire army of Abundance.
Regardless, since THEY were already here, THEY might as well shoot one.
*Zing—!*
In the next moment, a point of blinding light burst into existence in the center of the battlefield—cold and sharp enough to pierce the souls of mortals.
Before long, the light stretched, condensed, and formed into an arrow that spanned the galaxy, forged from the compressed essence of the cosmos itself!
Around it coiled the power of the Hunt, potent enough to snuff out countless stars—its tip didn't aim at one target, locking onto the entire Abundance army.
No sound.
No warning.
Lan's arrow, born of the universe's own will, known as the Sky-Shattering Lux Arrow, trembled once, then vanished.
No, not vanished—it just had fulfilled its purpose.
In the blink of an eye, the massive Abundance army—the mechabeasts, the endless abominations, all of them, were erased, turned into the most basic dust of the universe, as if rubbed away by an invisible hand.
A moment ago, there had been a tsunami of destruction, but now, only a silent void remained as though the massive army had never existed.
The Xianzhou Fanghu's barrier was untouched.
The reinforcements from the Xianzhou Yuque and Xianzhou Luofu hadn't even reached their destination yet.
Only drifting stardust remained—sparkling faintly, illuminated by the lingering divine pressure of that single divine arrow.
Lan's gaze seemed to pierce time and space itself, sweeping across the Xianzhou Fanghu, the Xianzhou Yuque, and finally settling for a brief instant on the yawning young man inside the strategic conference room.
In the next moment, a cold, detached, yet crystal-clear voice echoed in the minds of every person who witnessed the battlefield.
[By the will of the Hunt, the Hunt shall reach unto all. Abundance shall be purged.]
As these words resounded, Lan's projection dissolved instantly, as if THEY had never been there.
"..."
Silence.
Inside the Seat of Seiche Queller, everyone stared blankly at the empty, dust-filled space.
Glaciator Marum, Xuanquan, Jingtian, the vidyadhara elders, and the captains of the Cloud Knights froze in dumbfounded disbelief.
What just happened?
Where was the Abundance army?
Had the war ended before it even began?
"W-WE WOOON—!!!"
It was not until a Cloud Knight yelled excitedly while raising his fist that others snapped out of their daze.
""Victory! Victory! Victory!""
All the Cloud Knights immediately cheered in unison, their voices filled with excitement.
"I want to learn Celestial Master's fate-altering art... I want to be his disciple..." Jingtian collapsed to his knees, muttering mindlessly.
At this moment, his worldview wasn't merely shaken—it had been shredded to pieces and tossed into a black hole, pulverized ten thousand times over!
A divination art that could alter fate, where the Reignbow Arbiter THEMSELF comes down to fight, how was that even fair?
Regardless, it felt so damn good!
Meanwhile, inside the Seat of Seer Strategist, Lucian, seeing everyone cheering together, casually stretched, his joints crackling lightly, expression calm and nonchalant as if this were all an everyday routine.
He turned toward the still-stunned Fu Xuan beside him, gently ruffling her pink hair.
"C'mon, let's go grab some milk tea."
With that, Fu Xuan let Lucian drag her along blankly, her mind still replaying that cataclysmic scene on an endless loop.
As she glanced up at her master's tall figure, seeing his perfect side profile gleam in the dim light, her heart pounded uncontrollably.
'How... How can a man be this handsome...?'
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[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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