Chapter 323: Hanging By A Thread
"Too beautiful. Nine Celestial Fairy System. It looks like a large star system formed by nine beautiful celestial bodies," said Kelly.
"Markus will take some time to recharge. Everyone, you may take a rest and recover your stamina while waiting. There is no need to keep waiting here," said Temo.
Hearing Temo's words, everyone started heading to their rooms. I discovered to my surprise that the fiend and Dondon were conversing in a friendly manner. It looked like the two had become good friends.
Suddenly, Dondon brought the fiend to Master Crystal's medical room. Curious, I followed them. Dondon brought the fiend to the medical bed. Master Crystal was still lying on it, and his vitals were still at dangerous levels. The fiend made a detailed observation of Master Crystal before reaching for the cover around the bed.
"What are you doing?" I asked nervously.
The fiend looked back at me but did not say anything. It easily went through the cover and grew a feeler out of its finger. The feeler entered Master Crystal's mouth. Then, some red substance flowed out of Master Crystal's body into the fiend's body. Within the fiend's body, its organs started devouring the red substance. A few minutes later, the red substance stopped flowing. It seemed like all the available red substance had been destroyed by the fiend.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Master Crystal's vitals were recovering rapidly. Even his pale face was turning rosy again. His conditions improved, and he was no longer in the danger zone. A few minutes later, Master Crystal opened his eyes.
"Am I still alive, or am I dead?" muttered Master Crystal in confusion.
"Alive. You're still alive," I rushed forth and said in excitement.
The others heard my excited voice and came into the medical room. All of them were happy to see that Master Crystal had awakened from his coma."It's Lord Ant. It helped destroy the unknown germs in Master Crystal's body," said Dondon.
Everyone looked at the fiend with gratitude. However, the fiend merely snorted and strutted out of the room, ignoring everyone else.
"That's how that fellow is. It will not claim credits after doing good deeds," said Old Du.
Everyone's attention returned to Master Crystal. Zhang Bao'er started bragging non-stop about all the dangers he had experienced, not forgetting to make himself look good in all the stories. However, nobody was bothered by it. After spending an hour with Master Crystal, we returned to our respective rooms. The intense activities before had greatly exhausted me. I was able to fall asleep quickly.
After an unknown amount of time, I opened my eyes. I noticed that we were no longer at our previous location. Here, a supernova was happening around a lightyear away from us. The massive explosion almost looked like it was actually happening right in front of us. Everything was happening swiftly, and we could get a much clearer view from this distance than from a telescope.
The supernova even affected multiple systems near it. I couldn't help but rejoice at the fact that none of the stars near the Solar System was showing any signs of exploding. Otherwise, not even technology could save Blue from destruction.
Just like that, Markus spent six days performing nine wormhole-leaps. During the journey, we saw numerous sights, such as black holes, nebulae, supernovae, white dwarfs, and even two planets that looked like they could host lives. Due to our limited time, we were unable to explore what we saw.
After the long journey, we finally reached the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. One final leap was all we needed to return to either Mars or Blue. Zhang Xingxing started making combat arrangements with the team.
"The fate of our people relies on this. From our current position, the great sovereign can already sense some of the other people from Wisdom. They are currently gathered near Blue. Thus, the great sovereign suggested that we make Blue our destination," said Zhang Xingxing.
Baron Sisse added, "We intend to leap behind the empire's encirclement. According to what we know, the empire will be attacking with their superweapons from a lightyear away. However, we don't know their exact attacking position. During the attack, the pulp worm cores will produce a super wormhole and toss the planets through the wormhole to bombard our Kax Ring."
"In that case, we will need to leap behind the encirclement. There, the great sovereign will need to quickly contact the pulp worm cores and order them to stop the attack," said Old Du.
"We'll not only order them to stop. We also intend to send the planets they gathered to attack Blue through multiple wormholes to Eternal instead," said Baron Sisse.
"But that will only harm the innocent people living on Eternal," said Old Du.
"You can't avoid death in war. When the empire planned this attack against our home, had they ever thought about our innocents?" said Baron Sisse. Those were heartless words, but there was some truth in his words.
"But even the deaths in all the past wars can't be compared with the actual destruction of a planet. It is too cruel. We don't necessarily have to learn the cruelty of others. I disagree with bombarding Eternal," Old Du insisted, which was quite surprising.
"How about this? We don't need to think about Eternal's destruction for now. We'll focus on saving your planets first," said Temo. He was actually supportive of Old Du. After all, his loved ones were also living on Eternal.
"I agree with Old Du. It is too cruel. We shouldn't do it," said Master Crystal, who had just recovered from his sickness.
Zhang Bao'er and I also expressed our support for Old Du. In the end, everyone agreed that Markus would perform a leap to the back of the empire's encirclement. The great sovereign would quickly contact Violetvoid or Bluevoid. Through them, the attack on the Interstellar League would be stopped. The gathered planets would be left in interstellar space while further plans were made.
By the time we finished the discussion, Markus was one hour away from being fully recharged. Our ship was hovering at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. Standing before a window, I gazed at the beautiful spiraling galaxy and tried to look for Blue's position.
"Brother, the final battle is near. Are you nervous?" asked Zhang Bao'er. Without me realizing it, Zhang Bao'er and Old Du had come beside me.
"I believe our families on Blue are more nervous than us. They must also know about the empire's final attack. Even now, the league probably still has no idea how to defend against the terrifying attack. At this moment, they must all be feeling great despair. No matter what, we must stop this disaster from happening," I said.
"Yeah. I will not allow Emperor Fille to harm our families," said Zhang Bao'er with a slap to his chest.
"Well said. As long as us brothers can work together, we will definitely be able to defeat the empire. With my brothers by my side, I'm not afraid of anything," said Old Du. He extended his hand out, and we placed our hands atop his hand.
One hour passed quickly. Markus started producing the wormhole, and before long, we were near Blue, a planet I had missed badly. The distant planet was still as beautiful as ever. It did not matter how long we had left. This would forever be our home.
This beautiful home was currently shrouded in the fog of war. Surrounded by the Kax Ring, the planet did not even look free anymore. Around the planet was an extremely tight encirclement formed by the empire.
Perhaps those on Blue had also sensed the arrival of the final battle. The Kax Ring was active while the planet's army was also being assembled for battle. However, the empire had far higher numbers than them. This looked like a hopeless war for the league.
"The army around Blue is the Southstar Army. This army is known for having the strongest firepower in the empire. They are most likely also equipped with the black ball weapon we had seen before," said Temo.
"These battleships are nothing to worry about. But those big fellows look rather powerful," said the fiend while pointing at the distant superweapons.
Meanwhile, the great sovereign was busy trying to contact the brains of the superweapons. We were one day away from the attack. Thus, we couldn't afford to waste even a single second. This was the war's turning point. All our hope was placed on the great sovereign.