146: Eternal Fire, the Lament of Purgatory

Zhurong!

The deity who commanded fire in ancient myths, her very name represented the absolute authority to incinerate all creation!

The moment Lin Mo uttered that name, the Natural Selection, its hull having completed its transformation, emitted a terrifying heat that made space itself wail in agony!

It was no longer mere physical high temperature.

It was the materialization of a 'burning' concept on a fundamental law level.

The dark-red sky around the hull was forcefully twisted and torn by this power, forming a visible heatwave field, like a mirage.

Several metal clouds, formed from industrial exhaust, that happened to drift too close, were 'erased' from existence conceptually, without even the process of evaporation.

Inside the Bridge, despite the perfect isolation of the Life support system, Gu Zhixia could still feel a scorching sensation originating from the depths of her soul, as if she was about to be ignited.

This made her heart, which had just been reignited with a desire for battle, involuntarily produce a trace of primal awe.

This ship… this war monster named the Natural Selection, how many entirely different abilities, enough to overturn the world's perception, did it still hide?

"Wow… Brother Mo's ship turned golden! It's so warm!"

Only Gu Nianqiu, this Little Girl who always missed the point, was pressing her small hand against the cold viewport with a look of novelty.

The terrifying heatwaves, capable of distorting light, seemed no different to her than a warm fireplace in winter.

"Get ready to enjoy some real fireworks."

Lin Mo's voice pulled the sisters' thoughts back.

He raised his hand and lightly tapped his index finger in the void.

The action was like a conductor gracefully bringing down his baton.

"Give them a 'gift'."

As this command was given, all the muzzles at the bow of the Natural Selection, in 'Zhurong Mode', remained silent.

Instead, at the very top of the hull, where the observation deck dome originally was, countless dark-golden flame runes rapidly flowed and converged like living things!

A fist-sized, dark-red sphere of light, emanating a heart-stopping glow, slowly condensed into shape at the center of the runes.

It didn't look remarkable, had no earth-shattering momentum, nor did it have world-destroying energy fluctuations.

It just quietly hovered there, like a singularity formed from pure, solidified 'destruction' itself.

Light was mercilessly devoured and twisted the moment it approached it.

The next second.

This dark-red 'gift' detached from the hull.

Its flight speed was almost insultingly slow.

Like a viscous, scorching drop of lava falling from a great height, it slowly drifted, unhurriedly, towards the still-clamoring steel fortress below.

"What is that? A new energy weapon? It's too slow! All turrets, open fire! Blow it up in mid-air!"

In the ground command center, Leviathan's base commander looked at the leisurely target on the radar screen, which had almost no energy readings, and let out a disdainful sneer.

Instantly, the three hundred activated railguns below, and the countless close-in weapon system turrets on the fortress, roared simultaneously!

Hundreds of destructive beams of light and physical shells wove into an impenetrable, deadly net, capable of tearing a fleet to shreds in an instant, engulfing the slow-moving dark-red sphere of light!

However, what happened next instantly froze the sneer on the commander's face into eternal horror.

The death net, the moment it touched the dark-red sphere of light, was like snow cast into a star.

There was no explosion.

No resistance.

It didn't even make the slightest sound.

All energy beams, all physical shells, were bizarrely and silently 'erased' the moment they touched the sphere.

Not only did they fail to cause any harm, but they made the sphere's color even deeper and more ominous.

It simply continued its journey, leisurely and unstoppable, amidst the world's artillery fire.

Finally, under the horrified and distorted gazes of countless people in the fortress, it gently landed on the pale-blue energy shield.

There was no earth-shattering collision.

The dark-red sphere of light, like a living, scorching void, silently 'erased' a small hole in the shield the moment it made contact.

Immediately after, it passed through the shield and continued its descent.

Gently, it landed on the dome of the energy center, built from super-hard alloy.

Still in utter silence.

The alloy dome, in its presence, was as fragile as an illusion.

It thus 'erased' through tens of meters of defensive structures, finally falling into the very core of the energy center... the fuel storage facility.

Then, it stopped.

It did nothing, just quietly stayed there.

But its very existence was the most terrifying law-level contamination!

Centered on it, an invisible law of 'withering' and 'incineration' began to spread outwards frantically!

The containment fields of the fuel rods were failing.

The coolant in the cooling system was being forcefully 'conceptually evaporated'.

All precision instruments were weathering, decaying, and disintegrating at a visible rate!

In less than three seconds.

It was out of control.

Everything was out of control.

High-concentration radioactive fuel, having lost all restraints, reached criticality.

"No—!!!"

The base commander let out his last, desperate roar.

The next second.

The world lost sound and color.

As far as the eye could see, there was only absolute, blinding 'white'.

A small, artificial, malevolent sun rose from the heart of the Purgatory Furnace.

Immediately after, a massive mushroom cloud, filled with dark-red plasma and radioactive dust, so large it obscured the entire sky, shot upwards!

The still-not-fully-dissipated blue shield, in the face of this internal, brutally unreasonable destructive force, was like a balloon blown to its limit, lasting less than a tenth of a second before being torn into pieces!

The destructive shockwave, like a doomsday tsunami sweeping across the continent, spread wildly in all directions!

Countless massive mining machines were tossed and shredded like toys by the terrifying shockwave.

The towering smelting furnaces instantly turned into a twisted, glowing red pool of molten iron.

The more than thirty warships docked in the shipyard didn't even have a chance to start their engines before they were melted, vaporized, and ultimately turned into insignificant dust forming part of that mushroom cloud in this sudden catastrophe.

The entire Purgatory Furnace, this logistical heart that the Leviathan Guild had operated for over a hundred years and symbolized their absolute dominance, was completely and cleanly erased from this planet in just these short ten-odd seconds.

Leaving behind only a bottomless, vitrified crater over a hundred kilometers in diameter, still spewing black smoke and radiation outwards.

"Wow… what a… what a big firework…"

Gu Nianqiu was sprawled against the viewport, looking at the doomsday scene below, which was worthy of being recorded in history, her mouth agape in an "O" shape, even dropping the carrot pillow she was holding.

This firework was indeed very big.

So big that it exceeded the comprehension of her small mind.

Gu Zhixia was silent, unable to utter a single word.

She just looked at the scorched earth, at the rising and slowly dissipating sun of destruction, and unconsciously clenched her fists.

Her nails dug deep into her palms, but the stinging sensation brought her an unprecedented thrill and excitement.

This was the power to overturn the chessboard!

This was the power a Godslayer should possess!

The flame of god-slaying in her heart, far from being satisfied by this Victory, burned even more fiercely, even more wildly!

Just then—

A piercing alarm suddenly tore through the dead silence in the Bridge!