Meanwhile, Samael, now largely recovered, could not help but cast a heavy, restrained gaze toward the three colossal gods standing upon the sea.
The three Alien vanguards raised their dazzling, multicolored Swords of the God of War high. In resonance with the star rings and radiant halos, brilliant pillars of light shot far into the vast depths of the cosmos.
As the Ancient Serpent slowly lifted its head, its star eyes, split by cross-shaped fissures of light, gazed up at the layered rings of stars overhead.
That deep, shadowed gaze crossed the barriers of time and space, piercing through seas of clouds and veils of starlight. Perception born of destiny's authority merged into the distorted stellar glow, and waves of conscious rhythm spread outward.
Hum!
In an instant, a chilling resonance of feedback surged into the observer's mind. A celestial body shaped like a tear, its tail trailing hundreds upon thousands of luminous motes, suddenly erupted with blazing silver brilliance and streaked across the boundless universe.
In only a few breaths, the teardrop-shaped celestial body performed an eerie jump, vanishing from one node and reappearing abruptly at another, as though switching positions through a wormhole-like shortcut.
In the moment it paused, three markers flickering faintly among the stars once again locked onto its next jump point.
Guided by them, the tear-shaped celestial body repeated the maneuver, twisting the surrounding space as it leapt toward a new region of the cosmos.
In the blink of an eye, the broom-shaped comet was flung out of the distortion. Its tail, composed of countless egg-shaped segments, scattered interwoven patches of light and shadow into the surrounding void.
Buzz!
Suddenly, several crimson-black tentacles burst forth from a gray nebula, lashing out at lightning speed. Their tips were covered in octopus-like suckers, and within each sucker gleamed rows of vicious, ring-shaped fangs.
The tentacles stretched for tens of thousands of miles, tearing apart layers of chaos to reveal the thing coiled upon a planet beyond. Its bloated, malformed body looked like innumerable writhing masses fused together by viscous slime, an unspeakable abomination.
The tear-shaped comet acted decisively, like a warrior severing his own arm, flinging dozens of egg-shaped luminous fragments toward the terrifying silver-gray nebula.
The fragments instantly expanded and unfolded, dozens of white colossal gods charging forward to meet the tendrils.
Yet in the next instant, they were shredded like toys by the sweeping crimson flesh.
Even so, the brief delay was enough. The core of the tear-shaped comet had already jumped to the next node.
The Ancient Serpent intended to continue synchronizing his perception through the signal towers established by the Alien vanguards.
But an unprecedented sense of danger struck without warning. Samael's hair stood on end as he decisively cut off the outwardly dispersed divine will.
In that final, fleeting glimpse, dim light flowed across the tear-shaped comet, as though a cold, lifeless eye, indifferent to all things, were peering down from the starry sky above with grim detachment.
Immediately after, perception surged back like a receding tide. Through the star rings, the Ancient Serpent faintly brushed against only the tip of the iceberg of the countless phenomena scattered throughout the vast universe.
Under the convergence of the stars, an enormous, haze-formed gate stood half open and half closed, billions upon billions of radiant orbs writhing and merging together…
Amid the clustered convergence of innumerable flame spirits, a mass of eternally burning living fire devoured matter itself, shaping a twisted visage…
Within a barren planetary belt, a colossal interstellar tree unfurled its branches. Veins beneath its bark flowed like star rivers, bleaching and absorbing everything around it, driving its roots ever deeper and spreading its canopy ever farther…
Even this slight contact triggered a catastrophic backlash of information. The Ancient Serpent was struck as if by lightning, his face deathly pale as dark red blood seeped from his eyes, nostrils, and mouth.
After this probing glimpse, there was no longer any doubt about what the thousands of egg-shaped luminous objects trailing behind the tear-shaped celestial body truly were.
Starships. Starships carrying the Alien vanguards. Over a thousand of them.
The main body of the Tear Star, Velber, was coming.
Everything unfolded exactly as Athena had predicted. These three Alien vanguards, having judged that Earth's civilization belt could not be easily devoured, were in fact charting the stellar route for the arrival of the Tear Star's main body—Velber.
The worst possible outcome.
No, something even worse.
At that moment, as the Ancient Serpent recalled what he had seen and learned by sheer coincidence, a bone-chilling dread surged through him. Veins bulged on his forehead, his eyes burned red, and his heart roared madly.
Damn it all!
What kind of monsters are lurking in this universe?! Even the Tear Star Velber, which we don't dare provoke, can only run when it encounters them.
Damn it! I want to go home!
Never before had Samael felt so keenly how lovable his previous materialist world had been, and he found himself deeply longing for that simple, idle life spent worrying about nothing more than three meals a day.
After a brief silence, the Ancient Serpent rubbed his stiff, numb cheeks hard, forcing his chaotic thoughts back under control before lifting his gaze toward the sea.
After a long night of brutal fighting, a faint trace of dawn slipped out from the endless sea fog, piercing the oppressive darkness and casting its light over a land riddled with ruin, corpses, and blood.
Dawn was approaching. But what the new day brought was not only light, but also…
The apocalypse.
"Laaa!"
Above the dim, half-lit Oceanus Sea, a piercing sacred chant rang out, clear yet unclear, like shattered gold and splintered jade, shaking the heavens and spreading outward before the three Alien vanguards.
The destruction giant of the stormy seas fixed its gaze on the unruly variable disrupting its calculations ahead. Gripping its iridescent light sword, it crossed its blades and cleaved toward the third defensive line.
Power of the Sea! Power of Water!
Power of Love! Power of Beauty!
Bloody Dominion!
Purifying Arrow!
Stellar Tribunal!
At the critical moment, the gods who still retained combat strength desperately mobilized their authorities, raising layer after layer of radiant barriers in an attempt to intercept the assault of the Alien vanguards.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Yet the power unleashed by three Fourth-Tier Alien vanguards working in unison was something no defender present, whether human or god, could contend with.
The multicolored sword light smashed through dozens of defenses with unstoppable momentum, then slammed violently into the line of city walls.
In an instant, the earth shook and mountains trembled. The third defensive line, reinforced again and again at the cost of immense effort and resources, finally collapsed in sections after holding for a full day and night, exposing vast swathes of the soft, unguarded interior of Greece.
The three Alien vanguards looked upon the fallen fortress shrouded in dust and smoke. Their cold, indifferent voices resonated together, as though proclaiming the countdown to the end of the world.
"Error correction complete. Current status confirmed:
World Egg No. 0001 erosion rate at forty-seven percent. Planetary self-defense barrier exhibiting hollowing and delayed response…
Strategic escalation authorized. Continue guiding the Velber stellar core. Prepare to forcibly dismantle the ether macro-cycle system, strip away civilizational factors, and execute spirit particle recovery…
Real-time spirit particle calculations in progress. Triangulation coordinates reverified. Stellar ring focus complete. No obstructions detected. Stellar navigation channel restarting.
Remaining time before disengaging guidance at the main body's arrival marker: one-twelfth of the host planet's rotation cycle…
Velber 01, Velber 02, Velber 03 granted priority navigation. Aberration extermination directive reactivated.
Harvest, begin."
At the same time, with the third defensive line gone, the sea began to boil and surge. Tens of thousands of colossal divine minions poured ashore, advancing in a vast tide toward the Peloponnesus, as though stripping away its hardened shell to expose the tender flesh beneath.