After finishing her business, Rhea Medusa didn't even spare a glance at the soldiers sprawled across the ground, as if she had merely brushed away a speck of dust. She turned around to face Fa and the others, who were still standing with shocked expressions and trembling legs. Her face had returned to that familiar look of utter boredom, as though the earth-shaking pressure from moments ago had been nothing but an illusion.
"Alright, the annoying flies have been swatted dizzy," she drawled lazily, reaching up to remove the unremarkable dark-gold "Thousand Peaks" pendant from around her neck.
"Little ones, get ready to move out." The corners of Medusa's mouth curled into a wild, unrestrained grin, a mischievous spark flashing in her amber eyes. "Thousand Peaks, stop sleeping—get up and do some work! Big! Big! BIG! Give me—'Giant God Soldier Form'!"
With her sharp command, the small pendant suddenly erupted with dark-gold radiance brighter than the sun! The low hum instantly transformed into a heaven-shaking metallic roar! The pendant expanded and deformed at an astonishing speed as if it had come to life. Metal flowed and restructured with teeth-grinding screeches. In the blink of an eye, an ancient, massive greatsword over a hundred meters long and wide enough to carry several vehicles side by side materialized, hovering above the ruins like the mythical pillar that held up the heavens! Its blade shimmered with tangible halos of interwoven dark gold and crimson gold; blue electric serpents danced along its edges. The sheer weight and razor-sharp aura it exuded warped the surrounding space. Merely floating there, it gave off an invincible majesty capable of cleaving continents and severing oceans!
"Get on!" Medusa grabbed the nearest two—TISK (along with his lava hammer) and the still-dazed Kayla—and casually tossed them onto the broad, plaza-like sword spine as if they were chicks. Her movements were rough but incredibly efficient.
"Climb up yourselves!" she shouted to the rest, while flicking her fingers. Several strands of condensed dark-gold energy, flexible as ropes, wrapped around Zhamisi, Lin Ya, and Rex's waists, gently but firmly lifting them onto the giant sword. Fa took a deep breath; her Star Pupil flashed briefly, and with a short-range teleport she appeared in the center of the blade. Salsa's mechanical cat body was securely caught by one of Rex's extended mechanical arms.
When Celestia finally landed carrying Arya and Yuyuer, Medusa gave a satisfied nod. In a blur she appeared at the very tip of the sword—the relatively flat, wide-open platform at the point. She casually sat cross-legged and patted the warm metal beneath her.
"Hold on tight! If you fall off, I'm not catching you!" Medusa called without looking back, then waved her hand lightly toward the empty space ahead.
"Depart!"
BOOM————!!!!
No engine roar, no jet flames—just a single, muffled, terrifying sound as though space itself had been torn apart! The greatsword "Thousand Peaks" transformed into a dark-gold meteor ripping through the sky, instantly shattering the sound barrier! The violent shockwave, solid as a tsunami, hurled the Doomsday Rebirth soldiers and winged ones who had just struggled to their feet back into the air once more! Countless metal debris and rubble were sucked upward into the sky!
With a speed beyond anyone's comprehension, the giant sword blasted out of the thick tri-colored miasma cloud above Rixi City and pierced straight into the heavens!
Whispers on the Sword
Beneath their feet, the greatsword "Thousand Peaks" was now like a berserk warship powered by stellar force, instantly breaking—and far surpassing—the sound barrier! To everyone, the world blurred into madly stretching, twisting streaks of light! The vast, terrifying vine forest of Rixi City below vanished as though wiped away by a giant hand, shrinking in an instant into an insignificant black dot on the horizon! The ferocious airflow hammered them like billions of tons of force. If not for the thin energy shield Medusa had spread over the sword's surface—flowing with gold, red, and blue halos—that blocked the destructive wind pressure and frictional heat, this single moment of acceleration would have shredded even steel bodies into fragments!
Even with the shield, the horrifying G-forces still made everyone feel as though their internal organs were being crushed against their spines! Kayla and TISK, with their powerful physiques, grunted and braced with bulging muscles. Arya, Yuyuer, and the other magic-oriented members turned pale, clutching tightly to raised patterns on the blade or to their companions. Celestia barely maintained balance thanks to her six wings' innate stability, yet her eyes were filled with shock. Rex's armor blared piercing alarms as balance systems and structural integrity spiked to their limits. Fa relied on her Star Pupil's precognition and teleport instincts to adjust her center of gravity at the moment of acceleration, but her heart still pounded wildly.
"Speed… still climbing!" Rex's cold electronic voice carried unprecedented data fluctuations, forcing its way over the howling wind through their comms channel. "Current velocity… exceeding 30 Mach… 35 Mach… 40 Mach! Energy signature… unparsable! Localized regional breakdown of physical laws detected! Propulsion mode… unknown! Hypothesis: direct localized spacetime curvature distortion for 'leap'-style propulsion! Estimated time to reach the edge of Starfall Land… 12 hours and 41 minutes!"
Half a day! Only half a day to cross the Endless Storm Sea—a journey that would take ordinary ships dozens of days or cause them to be lost forever! This was the full might of a Stellar Inheritor unleashed?!
Wind and Conversation on the Sword
After the initial terrifying acceleration passed, the greatsword "Thousand Peaks" settled into a relatively stable ultra-high-speed cruise. Though the outside world remained streaks of madly stretched light, those on the blade gradually adapted to the constant heavy G-forces and the howling wind noise (greatly dampened by the shield).
Kayla released her thunder claws from the sword's patterns, shook her slightly numb arms, and stared with blazing beast pupils at the tri-colored flame wake streaming behind them. Her voice carried uncontainable excitement and roughness: "Holy hell! This speed… this power! Medusa! When you were toying with us earlier, you didn't even use ten percent of this, did you?" She recalled how her full-powered strike had been casually blocked, and only now did she truly grasp how vast the gulf between them truly was.
Medusa sat cross-legged on the edge of the wide sword guard, one hand supporting her chin, admiring the night view of the Murlet continent rushing past below like a flowing scroll—of course, at this speed, all she could see were blurry patches of light and dark rapidly changing. Hearing Kayla, she answered without turning her head, voice lazy: "Obviously. If I used my full power, there wouldn't even be scraps of you left to play with. I'm not willing to lose my rare little 'punching bags' just yet." She deliberately emphasized the words "punching bags."
"Punching bags?!" A vein throbbed on Kayla's forehead; electric arcs crackled uncontrollably on her thunder claws, but this time she forcibly suppressed her anger. After witnessing the other's true power, she knew it wasn't an insult—it was, in a certain sense, fact. "Hmph! One day, this lady's gonna make you taste what it's like to be the punching bag!"
"Oh?" Medusa finally turned her head. A flicker of interest appeared in her amber eyes as she sized Kayla up and down. "Big talk, little leopard. That fresh 'Swiftness of Thunder' origin you just gained has boosted your potential quite a bit. Fine—I'll wait." She grinned, showing sharp tiger fangs. "Next 'test,' I'll get just a tiny bit serious."
Kayla: "..." She wisely decided to shut up for now to avoid further humiliation.
On the other side, TISK was gently stroking the smooth, cold dark-gold surface of the blade beneath his feet with his fan-like hands, feeling the vast, seemingly living metallic power flowing within. The lava hammer "Earthshaker" on his shoulder hummed softly; the brilliant new golden sheen coating its surface resonated with the sword's dark gold. "Divine craftsmanship… divine craftsmanship!" The dwarven craftsman's spirit burned fiercely, his copper-bell eyes filled with a fervent yearning for the ultimate forging technique. "This 'Thousand Peaks'… its material, its structure, the way it contains and channels energy… it completely overturns everything I know about smithing! Lady Medusa, this… this really was forged?"
Medusa glanced at the excited dwarf and answered casually: "Forged? Sort of. But the main material came from fragments of the 'Origin of Metal' scattered when the Heart of the Stars shattered, melted and shaped by my will. Your dwarven hammering skills are still far, far short."
TISK didn't mind the bluntness at all—in fact, he grew even more excited: "Stellar origin?! Shaped by will?! Heavens… this is true… divine forging!" He looked utterly entranced, wishing he could pull out his tools and study it right then and there.
"Rex, analysis results?" Fa walked over to the armored warrior. Rex's electronic eyes flashed like twin high-speed searchlights; scanning patterns on his armor glowed at maximum intensity, emitting faint overload buzzes.
"Data… immense… unbelievable!" Rex's voice carried the rasping sound of processors running at extreme speed. "Blade material… not any known element in the universe! Energy conduction efficiency… theoretically approaches 100%! Structural strength… exceeds all modeling limits! Spacetime curvature folds generated during operation… consistent with high-level spatial jump theory… but energy source and control method… completely unknown! Conclusion: the technology—or rather 'divine law application'—embodied in this artifact far surpasses current civilization levels! Forced analysis… core processor approaching critical failure…" A thin wisp of smoke rose from his head armor.
"Enough, tin man. Don't waste your energy," Medusa's voice cut in. "The essence of 'Thousand Peaks' is the manifestation of law—not something your gears and chips can comprehend."
At that moment, Zhamisi, who had been silently observing, slithered closer with her serpentine tail. Her scarlet vertical pupils carried curiosity: "Lady Medusa, you said you joined Doomsday Rebirth just to watch the 'Star Pupil' awaken for fun. By helping us now—even taking us to Starfall Land—aren't you betraying the organization? Aren't you afraid Roman Chronos will come after you?" This was a question on everyone's mind.
Medusa laughed as though she had heard the funniest joke in the world, shoulders shaking: "Hahahahaha! Betray? Trouble?" She stopped laughing; her amber eyes flashed with world-disdaining arrogance and contempt. "When Rhea Medusa does something, who do I have to explain it to? Roman Chronos? What is he? Back then, if he hadn't offered something mildly interesting—'seize the power of the Star Pupil's awakening'—he wouldn't even have qualified to speak to me! I put my name on Doomsday Rebirth to give them face—not so they could leash me!" She waved her hand dismissively. "I help whoever I want, beat whoever I want. Trouble? Heh, I actually hope he comes looking for it. It'd be a good chance to stretch my muscles."
Everyone: "..." This absolute freedom and willful arrogance born of overwhelming power once again shattered their worldview.
"By the way," Medusa seemed to remember something. Her gaze swept over the group, lingering especially on Arya, TISK, Rex, Kayla, and Celestia. "You few little ones got bathed in the Star Pupil girl's light and were tempered by stellar origin. While we've got some downtime, properly sense and absorb your new power. Especially the intents of 'Metal's Sharpness,' 'Fire's Explosion,' and 'Thunder's Swiftness'—they'll be hugely helpful for breaking through your future bottlenecks." For once, she actually gave genuine advice.
Everyone's spirits lifted. Arya closed her eyes; a wisp of flame even more condensed and carrying stellar aura danced on her fingertips. TISK caressed the golden sheen on his warhammer, feeling the indestructible intent within. Rex experimented with controlling several nano-swarms now coated in stellar metal film—their speed and agility had exploded. Kayla quietly felt the thunder impulse inside her that seemed capable of tearing space apart. Celestia sensed the trace of ultimate "swiftness" from the stars now blended into her wind-thunder power.
Fa also sat cross-legged. In her right eye's Star Pupil, seven-colored halos (deep blue, dark green, silver-white, gold, crimson flame, electric light, and the subtle fluctuations representing mind and poison) slowly flowed. She guided the newly acquired stellar origins of metal, fire, and thunder, attempting to fuse them with her existing powers. Metal's sharpness granted her ice spears greater penetration; fire's explosiveness added evaporative heat to her water arrows; thunder's swiftness elevated her wind blades to new levels of speed. Though it was only an initial fusion attempt, she could already feel her attack repertoire becoming far more versatile and lethal.
Yuyuer hugged her crystal ball, softly chanting ancient merfolk ballads, faintly resonating with the Endless Storm Sea rushing past below, trying to sense dangers ahead. Lin Ya spread her natural spirit power outward, blending it with the stellar vitality flowing through the sword to accelerate healing of the minor lingering injuries from the Rixi City battle. Salsa sent several shadow hawks to patrol the shield's edge, keeping watch for any surprises.
Time flew rapidly amid ultra-high-speed travel and quiet contemplation. Rex's countdown ticked like a cold metronome in everyone's hearts.
Cursed Isle: Starfall Land
As they neared their destination, the speed of the greatsword "Thousand Peaks" began to noticeably decrease.
The sight before them made everyone hold their breath—even Medusa put away her lazy demeanor. Her amber eyes narrowed slightly as she gazed ahead.
This was the edge of the continent, the boundary of the world.
Below lay black cliffs of ten-thousand-year permafrost plunging steeply into an ocean beyond description—the "Endless Storm Sea." The water was not azure but a dull, churning chaos of ink-green and deep gray. Countless enormous whirlpools slowly rotated across its surface, each dozens of kilometers wide, like the gaping maws of giant beasts. Connecting sea and sky was not a calm horizon but an eternal, sky-obscuring super storm wall! Black hurricanes carried thick lightning and blue-white hail, roaring like dragons eternally scourging this cursed sea. The muffled thunder rumbled like the heartbeat of the world; even from this distance and behind the high-altitude shield, it numbed their chests.
And at the junction between this sea of destruction and the frozen cliffs, right at the edge of the raging storm, space itself was pathologically distorted.
It was a vast, boundless "Shattered Realm."
No continuous land—only countless islands of varying sizes and bizarre shapes floated amid chaotic air currents. Their materials were wildly diverse: jet-black megaliths gleaming with metallic luster; crimson landmasses flowing with lava and radiating intense heat; icebergs covered in deathly white frost exhaling frigid air; strange terrain sprouting glowing purple crystal clusters; and even… spatial fragments frozen mid-air like amber, encasing ancient warship wreckage and gigantic skeletal remains!
Between the islands was not empty void but visible, multicolored space rifts! These rifts, like wounds on a living thing, constantly twisted and opened/closed, spewing deadly energy turbulence (scorching particle storms, soul-freezing cold waves, mind-eroding shadow ripples) or devouring surrounding light and matter. Even stranger, time itself seemed to lose meaning here. In some areas the scenery played in fast-forward or slow motion: frozen lightning, reversed waterfalls, and hazy, mirage-like phantoms of ancient battlefields—giants in strange armor clashing with ferocious star-behemoths!
The air was thick with dense stellar energy, but this energy was violent and chaotic, saturated with factors of destruction, sorrow, and madness—completely unlike the gentle purity of Medusa's starspace. Lethal energy rays wove into deadly nets; bizarre, dreamlike colors painted the region like a nightmare scroll.
This was Starfall Land! The place where the Heart of the Stars first shattered! A forbidden domain utterly twisted by chaotic spacetime laws and berserk stellar energy—a realm no living being should enter!
"We're here." Medusa stood. Her crimson ponytail whipped in the violent gale. Looking at the chaotic yet majestic scene before her, her amber eyes—rarely—showed a trace of… nostalgia and solemnity.
"Use these last moments to regulate your breathing," she said gravely, voice cutting through wind and thunder. "Thousand Peaks can only take us to the storm's edge. From here on, you're on your own. Remember my words: keep your eyes open, move quickly, and don't touch anything you shouldn't." She paused, then the corner of her mouth curled into that wild grin again. "Of course, if you run into a 'giant beast' or 'monster' you really can't handle, feel free to scream for help. But whether I step in will depend on how strong the opponent is."
The greatsword "Thousand Peaks" came to a steady hover beside a relatively stable floating black-crystal-covered megalith at the storm's edge. Below churned the chaotic sea and roaring storm wall; ahead lay a phantasmagoric, peril-filled shattered spacetime.
Starfall Land—this forbidden realm that buried the original fragments of the Heart of the Stars—opened its gigantic maw like a primordial beast of desolation, silently awaiting their entry. A new adventure—or rather, a new trial of survival—was about to unfold in this absolute dead zone that even gods feared to tread.