From Abyssal Invasion to Bursting Stars with a Single Sword

In the Sikes Civilization's capital, Queen Star, on the trial court.

Erslton Strra stood arrogantly, his head held high, facing all the faction leaders' representatives and the Central System.

"You can't judge me because right now, only I can decide the destiny of Queen Star, or even that of the entire civilization..."

His opening remarks caused confusion among the faction leaders and representatives present.

Only the higher-ups in the Descent Faction knew a bit of the inside story, but just a little bit.

Erslton Strra revealed a convincingly mimicked facial expression and glanced at the time, saying:

"In 50 seconds, Queen Star will face the greatest crisis since the existence of our civilization.

"Only I! Only I can resolve this crisis.

"I give you the last 50 seconds to end this ridiculous trial and elevate my authority level to be on par with the Central System; otherwise, I will govern Queen Star in another manner."

This speech left all the Sikes Civilization's upper echelons present feeling puzzled.

They didn't understand why he was so confident.

Time passed by every second.

After Erslton Strra finished his previous statement, he quietly waited.

After 50 seconds had passed, the entire court became turbulent.

Because just one second before, all the faction leaders and representatives had received the crisis alert, and it was the highest-level crisis alert.

At the Gravity District, with Erslton Strra's underground laboratory at the center, a massive power outage began.

It was as if there was an energy black hole inside this laboratory that devoured all the electricity in the entire district, causing the surrounding buildings to go dark.

And the blackout area was still expanding, spreading toward nearby districts.

Following that.

A steel-structure building in the Gravity District seemed to come to life, as steel extended out like tentacles, turning into a massive monster that began devouring all the organic matter and metal around it.

This scenario continued to spread, every steel structure building in the vicinity of the Gravity District came alive, turning into tentacled monsters, plunging the entire district into chaos.

The Sikes Civilization sounded the highest-level alert, and various pieces of information flooded into the Central System like a tide.

All faction leaders and civilization's upper echelons gathered information from the Central System, and they were stuck in an unsolvable computation state.

This unsolvable computation state was akin to a robot's state of shock.

They continuously gathered information, ran calculations, and tried to find a solution.

However, the information, after countless calculations, yielded no desirable results.

Consequently, those mechanical nobles present fell into a state akin to a system crash, their movements even freezing.

Erslton Strra revealed a realistically mimicked smile and loudly said, "I've said it, elevating my authority level is the only way to solve this crisis."

The faction leaders started to communicate data with Erslton Strra, obtaining information from him, calculating whether he indeed could resolve the crisis.

The characteristic of Mechanical Civilization is efficiency decided by computing power; as long as it is confirmed that Erslton Strra can solve the crisis and there is no other way, the Central System would likely agree to his demand.

...

At the same time.

Inside the underground laboratory of the Gravity District.

Six teams that had raided the laboratory were trapped here, using all their wits to attack the metal door.

When they realized they couldn't break through the metal door, some Superpower Users began to bombard the walls.

Superpower Users called to the Abyss Battlefield were generally Level 35 or above and very strong in combat.

Several attacks created a hole in the wall.

But as soon as the hole appeared, the steel bars inside the wall grew out like tentacles, sealing the opening.

"What in the world is this thing?"

Seeing this, everyone started to panic.

Jian Qing spoke up to stabilize the troops, "Don't panic, everyone. Concentrate your attacks on one spot, break an exit, and let's get out first.

"If we can't make it out, don't worry either; we still have two hours until the return time. As long as we hold out, we can all safely return."

The other teams' leaders chimed in, "That's right, if we hold on until the return time, we'll be safe."

If it's just about holding on until the return time, the Challenge Task of clearing the Abyss Pollution Source is certainly not achievable.

However, faced with such a terrifying thing, being able to survive and return was the best outcome.

As for the task reward, it would be great to have it, but nobody was too demanding if it were not available.

Everyone calmed down, followed Jian Qing's orders, and started to work together to attack one spot, then bit by bit, they made their way out.

Lu Heng, upon seeing this horror "creature" that seemed both metallic and like an Abyss Meat Tumor, fell into a momentary daze.

Because he finally realized what this thing was.

These things were evolved Abyss Meat Tumors, commonly known as Metal Sarcomas, with another name being Metal Devourers.

Except, these things were not supposed to appear at this point in time.

In his memory, Metal Sarcomas were supposed to appear in the third year of the Abyss Descent.

Now it was March of the second year of the Abyss Descent.

"That is to say, according to the original timeline, the 'Metal Sarcoma' should not have appeared until eight months later."

"Why did it appear so much earlier?"

At that instant, Lu Heng also thought of the reason.

The Metal Sarcoma was hidden in Erslton Strra's underground laboratory, which meant that this thing was most likely the "experiment" he had been researching.

According to the original timeline, Lu Heng did not participate.

The Superpower Users who were conscripted this time were probably still investigating the Xavier Matrix, and it was highly unlikely they would trace it back to Erslton Strra's head.

Even if the investigation traced back to Erslton Strra, as soon as he received the information, he would evacuate the laboratory immediately.

Furthermore, with the existence of the Creator Organization's raiding team, the Sikes Civilization must have devoted most of its efforts to the pursuit of the Pharaoh's team.

That is to say, if Lu Heng had not been here, Erslton Strra would not have been exposed at all.

Naturally, no one would have seen the Metal Sarcoma Experiment hidden in the underground laboratory.

As a result, the Metal Sarcoma Experiment would not have been exposed at this time but eight months later.

Due to Lu Heng's appearance, he had changed the original order of events, causing the Metal Sarcoma Experiment to be exposed earlier.

…

After connecting these pieces of information, the entire event's framework became clear.

The 'Abyss Pollution Source' that Jian Qing and her team were tasked with investigating through the conscription mission was the Metal Sarcoma Experiment.

And the "Mechanical Demon" Erslton Strra was researching wasn't the riffraff in the laboratory; the real experimental subject was the Metal Sarcoma.

This Metal Sarcoma was a hybrid of the Abyss Meat Tumor and a metal devourer, making it more terrifying than the original Abyss Meat Tumor.

The Abyss Meat Tumor was terrifying enough on its own, but it had one flaw.

It could only devour organic material, growing continuously by devouring organic matter until it eventually swallowed an entire planet.

If there was no organic matter on a planet, then the Abyss Meat Tumor could not grow.

This was why the Abyss Meat Tumors did not appear on the Ice Plateau Star.

The Sikes Civilization's Ice Plateau Star had temperatures that were consistently below minus two hundred degrees; no organic life existed there, only minerals and mechanical mining equipment.

Even if an Abyss Meat Tumor appeared on Second Gaia Star, its potential for harm would be limited.

That's because the Sikes Civilization had evolved to the late stages of Mechanical Civilization, with nearly all Sikes citizens undergoing Mechanical Transformation.

The bodies of Sikes Mechanical Citizens were primarily made of metal materials, and they did not need to eat; they just needed to be charged.

Because they did not need to eat, the Sikes Civilization did not have any animal husbandry or agriculture, requiring no organic food.

Rare animals were kept in zoos, and even there, the numbers were few.

Compared to animals that frequently needed cleaning, Sikes citizens favored Mechanical Beasts.

Similarly, the Sikes Civilization's demand for atmosphere was not high; their activities only consumed electricity, not oxygen.

As a result, the Sikes World did not even need many plants.

Due to multiple factors, the total amount of organic material on the Sikes Civilization's planet was far less than on Blue Star.

This limited the impact that Abyss Meat Tumors could have within the Sikes Civilization.

Of course, this was all relative.

Even on such a large planet, the total amount of organic matter was still significant.

If the Abyss Meat Tumor was left unchecked, it could still devour the entire planet.

The last time on Second Gaia Star, the expansion rate of the Abyss Meat Tumor was relatively slow, one reason being that the cities were filled with metal and concrete, offering little in the way of organic matter.

Thus, Erslton Strra, upon obtained an Abyss Meat Tumor sample, initiated a research project.

And he succeeded using a completely new line of research, combining the Abyss Meat Tumor with a metal devourer, he finally succeeded in creating a Metal Sarcoma Experiment.

However, his research was not complete; the current Metal Sarcoma Experiment was not his most perfect creation.

According to the previous life's timeline, he would have created a more terrifying Metal Sarcoma Experiment eight months later and then released it to devour the entirety of Queen Star.

Yes.

In Lu Heng's memory, the capital of the Sikes Civilization, Queen Star, was eventually eaten by the Metal Sarcoma.

Of course, the Sikes Civilization put up a lot of resistance.

After all, Queen Star was their political and cultural center; the Sikes Civilization naturally wanted to save the planet.

Unfortunately, three months after combating the Metal Sarcoma, the Sikes Civilization announced its retreat from Queen Star.

Two months later, which was in the third year of May in the Human World's Abyss, the Sikes Civilization relocated its capital to Second Gaia Star.

The fall of Queen Star was also the beginning of the decline of the Sikes Civilization.

Lu Heng had indirectly witnessed a higher civilization gradually decline and step by step approach their end amidst the Abyss' invasion.

And the starting point of the Sikes Civilization's decline was this Metal Sarcoma Experiment.

It was this Sikes scientist named Erslton Strra.

Lu Heng sometimes had difficulty distinguishing whether the decline of Sikes Civilization was due to the Abyss' invasion or the civilization itself.

Now, having seen the Metal Sarcoma eight months earlier, Lu Heng could not help but entertain a thought.

Perhaps he could change something...