Since the death of E03, E01, E02, and E04 finally erupted in fury. They seemed unable to tolerate the slaying of their kind by the Allied forces and launched a full-scale counterattack. They howled into the void, which rippled with deep, black rifts, from which elite monsters began to crawl forth.
These creatures were massive and varied in form, appearing as a grotesque fusion of deep-sea nightmares and otherworldly phantoms. Some were covered in spikes, limbs sharp as blades, muscles coiled like cables, specialized in tearing apart ships and destroying mechs. They charged with savage roars, whipping up a storm of metal and flesh across the battlefield. Others had enlarged, grotesque heads bristling with writhing tentacles and eyes, masters of psychic assault. Upon appearing, they unleashed intense mental pollution, dragging entire starship crews into hallucinations—some saw their homeworld explode, others misidentified allies as enemies—throwing the front lines into chaos.
Beyond that, spider-like titans, electrically charged beasts, and invisible vibrating entities drifted through space. Abnormal lifeforms spread across the battlefield as if attempting to devour the starsea itself.
The Allied forces fell into fierce struggle. Many smaller starships were destroyed, mech pilots collapsed from mental overload, and soldiers with weak psionic strength were driven mad, some even harming themselves under psychic influence.
Amid the crisis, commanders of various factions recalled Milton’s prior protective orders and urgently activated mental stabilization systems and defensive arrays. Units scrambled to reorganize their formations, attempting to hold the front.
Milton stood on the command bridge, eyes cold and sharp, watching the tide of monsters. He spoke in a low, commanding tone: “This cannot continue. If the E-level monsters keep summoning elite creatures, the Alliance will eventually be worn down.”
He immediately issued an order: “All units, stabilize the front. Each faction commander shall manage their own defenses. Blue Dai and I will personally engage and slay the remaining three E-level monsters!”
At that moment, Gu Qing and Milton turned and strode into the mech bay. The silver-white mecha stood ready. The second cockpit of the dual-pilot mecha opened silently, awaiting warriors fearless of death.
Gu Qing and Milton climbed aboard the Silver Crown together.
This newly forged Silver Crown, designed with Gu Qing’s direct involvement, was no longer a conventional single-pilot unit. It was a fully upgraded dual-resonance mecha. Its silver-plated frame was sharp and flowing, energy wings fanned from its back, and a floating ring composed of metal and spiritual energy hovered at its tail. The core cockpit was built for synchronized operation.
They took their positions, one on each side, hands flowing over the control panels like liquid clouds. The Silver Crown slowly activated amid heat and spiritual light.
Above them, the little spirit orb cheered: “Go Mimi and Qingqing! Chop those ugly monsters into soup!”
Commanders across the Alliance channels shouted in unison:
“All units, clear a path for the Supreme Commander!”
“E-level monsters are Silver Crown’s target; the rest are ours!”
“Open the central corridor immediately! Full firepower!”
In the center of the battlefield, a channel of light was forged by Allied fleets and ground troops, cutting a direct path to the enemy’s core. It was a corridor carved through sheer firepower and sacrifice.
The Silver Crown rose like a divine spear, silver light arching as it surged into the bloodied corridor created from the valor of life and steel.
“Gu Qing,” Milton’s voice was steady, eyes like eagles, hands never stopping, “this is our first battle together.”
Gu Qing glanced at him, a faint smile tugging at his lips: “Yes, Commander. Do your utmost to slay them; I won’t let a single hair of yours be touched.”
With that, their spirits resonated.
Gu Qing’s soul burned like the sun, Milton’s mental sea rippled like the galaxy; their energies entwined, merging into a stream of light resembling the very trajectory of fate. They could sense each other’s breath, heartbeat, even subtle tremors of the soul. Since that night of spiritual fusion, their psychic frequencies had fully aligned; control commands and perception were shared like a single mind.
Milton’s bug-patterns glowed with silver luminescence, responding to Gu Qing’s spiritual resonance.
At that instant, the three remaining E-level monsters emerged from the warped rifts, their bodies mountainous, eyes burning purple-black. They roared in anger, releasing a dark, lightning-like resonance between them. Three streams of shadow energy intertwined, forming a beam as thick as a starship.
The beam was void of light, yet it devoured everything. Stars seemed to extinguish in its path; space itself warped and tore, disrupting signals and gravity fields in an instant. It was not light—it was death, a judgment from the depths of nothingness, a curse even gods would avoid.
“Alert! Coordinates in Zone Seven erased—entire fleet missing!” came terrified screams over the comms.
The beam struck the Silver Crown like apocalypse incarnate. Space trembled, energy roared, and the battlefield was swept into an unfathomable dark storm.
Gu Qing remained composed, hands gliding over the secondary controls. Each keystroke activated high-purity energy stones, their power converted through the matrix into a torrent of spiritual energy.
Runes across the Silver Crown flared. Thousands of light patterns pulsed like a heartbeat. A faint golden spiritual membrane enveloped the armor, blocking psychic shockwaves and energy impacts that could shatter steel. Amid the devastation, the Silver Crown stood unscathed.
Then—
Inside the cockpit, Gu Qing and Milton sat side by side, their spirits tightly entwined. Milton turned suddenly, his violet eyes burning with fervent determination. Gu Qing smiled softly and nodded. Instantly, a wave of spiritual energy surged into the Silver Crown’s core like a tidal wave.
The dual resonance flooded the system with precision. The core, a prototype combining energy stones, cultivation sword array theory, and top-tier interstellar intelligent armament, required absolute mental alignment to activate. They were the only possible ones in existence capable of it.
The Silver Crown trembled as if resonating with the stars themselves.
—Boom!
Countless light points erupted, tracing paths like meteor showers in the void, forming a magnificent sword array.
Constructed of spiritual and psychic energy, millions of blades spun and condensed, the array resembling a godly judgment circle. Multiple star-like rings appeared, each inscribed with ancient runes.
“Slash!”
Milton’s voice commanded, and the Heaven Abyss Sword, magnified a hundredfold, appeared on the Silver Crown’s right arm. Silver-white, gleaming with starlight—
The Silver Crown struck!
—A roar split the heavens, the sword array igniting.
Countless beams shot forth like a cascading galaxy, infused with psychic and spiritual power, cleaving toward the three strongest E-level monsters.
E01, a mass of spikes and pulsating fluids, evaporated instantly under the blade, marrow and consciousness annihilated in the starlight.
E02 beat its wings and shrieked, attempting escape, but the second sword beam cut it into four segments, black-gold shards and alien blood reduced to dust.
E04, standing amid collapsed spatial turbulence, merged with the void itself, as if not a creature but a cosmic anomaly. When the third beam struck, space around it momentarily froze, resisting the attack—but the sword’s divine intent shattered the void, slicing through E04’s core and erasing its existence completely.
The three E-level monsters were annihilated by the ultimate strike of combined psychic and spiritual resonance.
—Silence fell across the battlefield.
The prime sword hovered, tip pointed toward the shattered remnants, its lingering aura sweeping away all evil.
The Silver Crown retracted its blade, golden light solidifying. Soldiers and commanders alike held their breath, staring at the mech as if a god had descended.
As the sword array dissipated, cheers erupted like a tidal wave.
Factions rejoiced, some crying, some embracing. The remaining frenzied monsters emitted low cries and retreated in chaos.
Inside the cockpit, the air remained heavy. Milton gazed at Gu Qing, his violet eyes reflecting starlight, brimming with pride and excitement. “…We really did it,” he whispered, voice trembling yet certain.
Gu Qing met his gaze, unwavering, a soft smile on his lips: “This is only the beginning.”
He placed his hand over Milton’s on the controls; at the touch, their spirits surged again, the cockpit’s light patterns responding to their resonance.
Milton’s throat moved slightly, heat and certainty in his eyes: “Gu Qing… I can finally stand beside you.”
They said nothing more, simply shared the quiet moment, heartbeats and psychic waves flowing in synchrony.
Then Gu Qing’s brow furrowed slightly.
“You feel that?” Milton’s voice came almost simultaneously through the mech’s resonance system—he had sensed the strange fluctuation too.
Gu Qing didn’t answer, steering the Silver Crown toward the spot where the E-level monsters had fallen.
Floating in a corner of the battlefield was a fragment of crystalline stone. Suspended in the void, it shimmered faintly, etched with subtle arcane patterns—ones Gu Qing recognized from the beasts of the Abandoned Star of the Immortal Palace.
This structure was not naturally formed.
Milton’s expression darkened. Through the data link, he also saw the shattered crystal and muttered, “Something’s wrong.”
In the next instant, the crystal silently crumbled before them, turning to soundless ash.
Gu Qing’s fingers tightened, gaze sharp as a blade: “These monsters… were not born naturally… they were created.”