96: Meaglinia, Unvanquished

Today's update is five chapters.

This is the third chapter.

"Vee. Don't let up on the attack. I haven't fully grasped the exact mechanics yet, but Meaglinia keeps coming back even after being minced. There might be limits, but it won't die from a normal killing blow."

"I understand. We've been continuously hitting the battleship directly since earlier, but according to the notes observed through the 'Hetero Mirror,' the alternate OS originating from Meaglinia has not yet been eliminated."

At sea, under the command of Vilijanira, Imperial ships and various other vessels encircle Meaglinia, relentlessly attacking with blaster mods designed for spacecraft.

The output of this blaster mod, of course, far surpasses that of standard personal blaster mods.

Specifically, even the lowest-grade version would instantly vaporize an ordinary human without a shield mod, and even high-grade shield mods would struggle to defend against it.

This is evident from the continuous explosions and shockwaves emanating from the direction of advance.

Yet, since it hasn't died from such attacks, the space monster must indeed be extremely tough—there's no way to stop the assault until we can be absolutely certain it's dead.

"What about Satu?"

"Following the trajectory that blew Megalynia apart, heading toward the sea. We can't afford to miss anything after teleporting. Worst case, we might fail to finish it off because of it."

"Understood. Be careful when rising above the sea. There are inevitably stray bullets around."

"Got it."

I swiftly swam from one water sphere to another, or through the spaces between them, making my way toward the surface.

Moving rapidly from a high-pressure environment to a low-pressure one would be extremely dangerous for an ordinary human, but thanks to the Environmental Stability mod and my body's naturally reinforced constitution, such conditions were no obstacle. I pressed forward through the sea, now utterly devoid of life, prioritizing speed without hesitation.

‘Wait! This… All personnel, suspend attacks immediately! Deploy smoke screens and initiate evasive maneuvers!’

"Vee!?!"

Something seemed to have happened at sea.

From the main body, Vee's urgent words accompanied all ships deploying smoke screens to conceal their forms, immediately initiating high-speed maneuvers.

At the same moment, Maeglinia emerged from the halted attack, swinging her arm once.

That single motion slammed a smoke screen onto the sea surface, causing a water column to rise hundreds of meters into the air.

"Hehehe, hahaha! So this is what it means to become the world's enemy. It's amusing, but painful—aiming precisely from within the defense, only to be missed, frustratingly so. It's entertaining, yet utterly annoying. Ah, is it you, Lady Virijanila, giving the orders? Not Count Flaretanbo—he couldn't possibly see me clearly amidst that downpour of attacks. Yes, yes, I've learned. I've observed. If you think you can block it with just a smoke screen..."

So, I see. By wrapping their psychokinetic power around them like a shell, they managed to shield themselves from the barrage.

Easy to say, but far from easy to do.

And it's hard to believe they could do it from the very beginning.

If that's the case, then my attacks after the first strike might not have been effective at all.

Though I can't possibly believe it, could their psychokinetic output actually be increasing each time they kill?

If that's true, then I absolutely can't let them escape.

In any case.

"Like hell I will."

"Wha—!? Master Satā!"

I leapt from the sea surface and sprinted upward through the air, then kicked at Méglinia, who seemed to be floating in midair using telekinesis.

But she blocked it, and Méglinia let out a voice filled with delight.

"Aha ha ha! Thanks to you, my power is accelerating rapidly! Master Satā! Cosmic Monster! Show me more of your strength through my eyes! Then, all I need is the right sacrifice, and I’ll rise ever higher—gaining deeper insight into the true nature of the Cosmic Monster!"

"Disgusting!"

Delivering another barrage of invisible four-hit shockwaves, just as she had at the start.

A thunderous blast and a wave of heat spread out across the surroundings.

Yet, although the attack managed to kill Méaglinia three times over, it failed to obliterate her completely—leaving only wounds on the verge of death.

Most likely, a telekinetic defensive shell.

But unlike the first spherical barrier that offered no defense once an attack originated from within, this one was perfectly contoured to the surface of her body.

There should have been some structural flaw in such a form, doomed to shatter from a single blow, yet Megalinea's power had grown to the point where that didn't happen.

"AhaHaVaHaha! Look at this! I've endured it! I've survived it! It hurts terribly, but experience and observation are what strengthen me! I can now handle attacks that once left me no choice but to be torn apart into scraps!!"

"!?!"

Maeuglinia swung her arm.

A telekinetic force struck my body, reducing the puppet to fragments.

But it was just a puppet, after all.

No damage was done to me—I could even use it to my advantage.

"Then... how about this!"

"Wha—!?"

I summoned a new puppet behind Maeuglinia, upside-down in relation to her, and immediately grabbed her by the head.

I then hurled her with all my might—downward from my perspective, upward from hers.

"Wait... Doby!?!"

"Take another stomp, you bastard!!"

Then, as a follow-up attack, an invisible octuple impact... essentially, a full-power straight punch from my physical body in the Ether Space, slamming into her and sending Maeglinia soaring far into the sky... past the atmosphere and into outer space.

"Vee!"

"Attack... unleash!!"

"!?"

A barrage of attacks, each delivered by weapons designed for use beyond the atmosphere—prohibited within planetary atmospheres due to their potential impact—was slammed into her.

The most devastating of these was a colossal blaster cannon fired from a massive military satellite, delivering a single, satellite-grade blast powerful enough to strike even my main body, which directly hit Maeglinia.

"Even this won't finish you off? So it's still about the number of hits, huh? But if it's limited by count, how many more times do I have left? I should've reduced you to minced meat by at least two digits already."

Yet Maeglinia still lives.

A faint presence of an OS—neither 'Vanilla OS' nor my own—lingers.

"Wha—!? No way!"

And to make matters worse, Maeglinia begins moving again.

Instead of returning to Planet Flaretanbo 1, it follows a trajectory that carries it outward from the Flaretanbo system, riding the momentum of the satellite cannon's attack, heading toward the onset of night.

Using telekinesis to propel itself away from danger.

"Sat! Pursue them! Meeglinia is escaping!"

"The main body's already chasing after! I'm heading back to 'Pumpkin Witch'! Depending on the situation, I'll take them all out at once!!"

My main body is immediately pursuing Maglania.

My puppet form also teleported, using the hair ornament of Vilijanila inside the 'Pumpkin Witch' as a marker.

"Vee-sama, permission granted. We can now exit the atmosphere."

"Joharis!"

"I know! The 'Pumpkin Witch' is going full speed ahead!"

And so, the 'Pumpkin Witch' pursued Maglania and escaped from the planet Flaretanbo 1.