The ‘treacherous children’ had very strong mental fortitude, and normal attacks would literally just bounce off. So Hao Ren had not bothered using mental attacks to break the prisoner’s will. In place, Hao Ren chose to put the prisoner through a unending cycle of nightmares, hoping to chip away the latter’s resistance through it. Using Zom’s unique ability, he had managed to build such a syste, but as of now, he was only able to scrap the surface of the prisoner’s conciousness.
The new illusion was an endless space, the prisoner was curious for a moment as he was thrown into the empty void. He realised that this illusion was different from before, there was nothing here, no excruciating pain, no utopian dreamland, it was simply an empty space with the occasional starlight. The prisoner pondered for a moment before realising that someone stood behind him.
“Long time no see.” Hao Ren waved at the treacherous child, his voice directly going into the latter’s mind. “How you find the place?”
“So you finally deign to show up yourself.” the prisoner was not surprise to see Hao Ren. He let out a mocking smile, as he replied via mental link. “Seems like your abilities as just like that. An inferior being will always be one.”
“Say what you want,” Hao Ren shrugged. “What we have is time, and there is a definite limit to your mental defense. So I’m here to ask you, are you willing to cooperate? You know that resistance is ultimately futile, in this endless dream cycle, you’ll crack someday.”
“You are grossly underestimateing us, the new gods.” the prisoner was impassive, and his eyes was bleeding with contempt as he looked at Hao Ren, even when he himself was the prisoner. But at that point, it looked like it was him who was the master of the place. “Our lifeform have already transcended beyond your imagination, your childs play is nothing but amusement to me.”
Hao Ren shook his head. “Then, let me show you something new.”
The prisoner cast a curious glance at Hao Ren, wondering what sort of tricks he would play now. He suddenly felt his body sinking as a surge of powerful gravitational force pulled him under. AT the same time, a blinding and scorching light shot out from the sight. He turned back in surprise as he saw the empty space giving way into a blazing star, and the star was bleeding light, as it tried to swallow him into the terrifying inferno.
The descent from space into a burning planet was indeed terrifying, and this was much more fear inducing than the scenes from purgatory or hell from the various mythology. And even the mentally resillent ‘God killers’, he could not help but widening his eyes as he saw what was before him. After a short stupor, the prisoner gave a contemptous smile. “A little bit more creative than before, but what about it?”
The prisoner sneered as he mocked Hao Ren’s futile attempt while he fell into the sun. The scorching flames set his clothes and flesh on fire, and the stubborn bastard was reduced to ash in the blaze.
As his spirit was just about to fade away, the illusion ended and the prisoner suddenly recovered from the extended illusory world. He found himself laying on the floor of the crystal cell, as the bizzare robots before him beeped and booped before retreating away. Hao Ren stood across the lightwall as he looked on. “You’re sure a tough nut to crack.”
“Over already?” the prisoner let out a faint smile, before getting up slowly and tidying up his clothes. Every motion he made was ridiculing the futile efforts of the ‘inferior beings’ before him. “Frankly speaking, you might just as well kill me, that would reduce your pain, the pain of continuous failure.”
Seeking how contemptous the prisoner was even in this state, even Y’zaks the patient one started to get annoyed. “Insolent insect! Do you know who stands before you?”
“Does it even matter?” the prisoner smiled mockingly. By now, even Vivian had enough and stepped forward to teach the pompous treacherous child a lession, just at that very moment, a massive shock stopped everyone in their tracks!
“BOOM!! BOOM!!”
A series of loud crashes came from deep within the building and each crash was thunderous. The crystal prism and the crystalline dome of the penitentiary zone shook violently amidst the massive explosions. The solid crystalline structure shuddered as it started letting out clacking noise under pressure. The prisoner had not realised what happened, but he soon realise the expressions of Hao Ren and the rest was that of abject shock.
“What’s happening? What’s happening?!” Just a minute ago Lily was playing ‘Who can wag her tail faster’ with Rollie and was scared out of her wits by the sudden quake and explosion. “The place is collapsing?!”
“BOOM!!”
A bigger explosion came from afar, and this time around the explosion sounded even closer than before, and the following shockwave was even more terrifying. The entire penitentiary zone was upended as the massive crystalline dome shattered. A crystal pillar connected to the wall and the dome – probably an energy conduit of sorts- suddenly blasted out a blinding glow before disintegrating into over a dozen pieces, raining crystal debris all over the prison cell, liting up the wall of light that made up the cell.
As the bone-chilling explosion and quaking continued, Hao Ren shouted. “Mainframe! Status report!”
The space station’s mainframe replied with a droning voice. “The third bridge is under attack. Reactor one to four status unknown. Rupture detected in the First Experimental Container, and the stored items are leaking…. Identifying attackers….”
Hao Ren commanded, his tone rushed. “Display image.”
A massive holographic projection appeared in midair, the top part was showing the situation outside the space station, and it was nothing but the void as more and more great starships appeared from the dark of the void.. The spatial distortion when the starships completed their jump had distorted the entire background of the universe. These starships were gilded and striking as if each and everyone of them was made out of gold. Everyone of them were decorated with ornate structures, almost looking like floating cathedrals in space, their presence was immediately imposing the moment they appeared.
A few hundred starships now appeared in the space before CARS, and many more were arriving by the minute. The massive fleet had now surrounded CARS and their concentrated firepower sent shockwaves all over the station’s protective barrier.
“F*ck! Where did they come from?!” Hao Ren shouted in shock as he saw the scene and immediately called the mainframe. “Release all limiters! Activate all cannon platforms and summon all the nearby attack droids back!”
After that he pulled the dumb cat that was stunned silly as he called the others. “To the central command hall!”
The sudden turn of events had thrown everything to the sharks, and everyone had left the penitentiary zone in a blink of an eye, leaving the prisoner alone in the empty prison. Explosions and shuddering continued from all over, as if threatening to tear the prison apart.”
“Seems like I’ll meet my end here…” the prison laughed self-mockingly, but just before his voice trailed off, a crystal power core suddenly glowed as if the energy conduit had overloaded leading to the crystal exploding.
As the power core shattered, every cell room in the penitentiary zone flickered.
A low hum later, the impregnable wall of light before him flickered and finally dissipated.
The prisoner could not react to the turn of events, he stared befuddledly at the change before him. The wall of light had kept him captive for many days. He had many times tried to destroy it to no avail. And he had already formed the opinion that the thin lightscreen was practically invincible. But now the lightscreen had disappeared and he did not know how to react.
But very soon after, a voice broke him out of his stupor, “What are you standing there for?! You want to stay here forever?”
The prisoner looked up, dumbfounded and he saw a massive figure appearing from the dark void. The figure wore an ornate field commander battledress and held a scepter in hand. His features was fierce and his eyes sharp.”
“We have noticed that the Solenne Gateway had gotten out of the Umbral Realm, and we have tracked your signal until here.” The imposing field commander said with gutteral voice. “Seems like you’re a soldier from ten thousand years ago?”
The prisoner nodded, before asking. “You are…”
“We’ll talk after we leave here.” The commander waved as a dozen of fully armed warriors appeared from the darkness. “They’ll recover soon enough, and I don’t intend to die to these inferior beings before I reach the Promised Land.”
