The Denizens of Abundance maneuvered their living starships, trying to turn the tables and devour the Swarm.
But they weren't Emanators, they didn't have that kind of insane replication capacity.
Even if the Denizens of Abundance did manage to swallow the bugs, it wouldn't grant them the blessing of Abundance they so desired.
Instead, the power of Propagation would enter their bodies and forcibly transform them into insects.
As for that living planet, the [Ketu Mirage], given its sheer size and the intensity of its blessing, it couldn't be directly turned into a Swarm King through the resonance of Propagation's power alone.
But that wasn't a huge problem.
Because the Swarm's power was far from spent.
Devouring enemies and turning their corpses into more bugs was just the absolute basics, the foundation.
At least at this point, the Denizens of Abundance hadn't started to feel fear.
Not until the very first bug split itself out of a Denizen of Abundance's brain in the most bizarre way.
That's when a strange, unsettling atmosphere began to creep across the battlefield.
And this, right here, was one of the varieties she'd cooked up with Ruan Mei.
A mild memetic contamination, hard to detect, combined with a higher concentration of Rememberance's power.
It meant any individual who held the impression of the Swarm in their mind could use that very impression to breed brand new insects.
Using thought as a seedbed, memory as the foundation.
Turning illusion into reality, making memory manifest as truth.
The stronger an individual's impression of the Swarm, the more bugs, and the stronger the bugs, that would be born.
Of course.
This ability was something only 'Jingliu' herself could use.
After all, there was no one else who possessed both Propagation and Remembrance powers at this level simultaneously.
And as 'Jingliu' pushed this power further outwards, the individuals exhibiting this phenomenon were no longer limited to the Abundance worshippers.
Even among the Xianzhou soldiers, bugs from a new generation began to spawn en masse within their minds.
Countless swarms emerged from the Xianzhou ranks, then took to the air, wings buzzing.
But under 'Jingliu's' control, these Memory-Insect Swarms, born from the minds of the Xianzhou people, didn't attack them at all. Instead, they all surged toward the Abundance worshippers' forces.
The issue, however, wasn't whether they attacked the Xianzhou or not.
The real problem was watching those nightmarish bugs crawl out of your own head, for no apparent reason.
That kind of scene was just... a bit too overwhelming.
Even Phantylia, hiding behind the scenes, was starting to get a little uneasy at this point.
If we could still accept the Swarm from before, with Celenova joining the fray with her abilities, we could probably still hold the line, even suppress them.
But now...
Pulling bugs directly out of individual consciousness?
Get bugs while you're alive, turn into a bug when you're dead.
One piece of biomass produces two units?
Does that even make sense?!
'Jingliu' herself was experiencing the Swarm's proliferation ability for the first time.
She just stood there; the black Lightning Lord had only made that one slash right at the beginning.
Yet now, the number of insects under her command was already nearing a hundred million, and they were still multiplying rapidly with consistent, terrifying efficiency.
The sky-darkening swarms buzzed and shrieked in unison, as if the entire cosmos had been reduced to nothing but the Swarm.
Both the beast-ships and the Xianzhou's starskiffs paled in comparison before that ever-growing, sky-filling multitude of insects.
By now, a war that was supposed to be the Denizens of Abundance hunting the Xianzhou, had, under 'Jingliu's' forceful intervention, turned into a hunting ground where the Swarm preyed on the Abundance worshippers.
The starry sky where two armies had once faced off, now, as far as the eye could see, was nothing but Swarm.
And the black Lightning Lord at the center of it all raised its long blade, silently issuing the order to charge.
The endless Swarm, shrieking, surged towards that colossal living planet.
But compared to the other Denizens of Abundance, this living planet was clearly more powerful.
The Swarm kept tearing at its flesh, flooding into its body, but the frantically writhing tentacles were simultaneously devouring the bugs, infecting them.
Golden foliage would sprout from the insects' bodies, and accompanied by their death throes, they would become part of the Ketu Mirage.
Seeing this, 'Jingliu' raised her blade high and brought it down upon the oncoming behemoth in a single, cleaving strike!
BOOM—!!!
Accompanied by the dense aura of Destruction, a blade of white ice, carrying the terrifying force to pierce a star, came slashing down fiercely onto the Ketu Mirage.
Writhing flesh was forcibly torn apart.
Churning gore spewed forth, reeking of blood and filled with wails.
Countless misshapen, screaming, frenzied humanoid forms and insects tumbled out along with the blood from the wound.
And beneath the destructive light of the blade, they were all granted release.
A sight so gruesome, even 'Jingliu' couldn't help but feel a wave of nausea.
The Ketu Mirage, with virtually no means of resistance, possessed only this one thing: incredibly tenacious vitality.
Just as stubborn and wretched as Shuhu back in the day.
Even as it writhed madly and howled in agony, the enormous wound, which had nearly torn its body in half, was still visibly healing, closing up before their eyes.
The power of Destruction turned its flesh to ash, yet the surging blessing of Abundance could still resurrect the dead tissue.
Thankfully, this thing's vitality was far inferior to Shuhu's.
Its Abundance blessing, built purely on devouring, was not only chaotic but also far less efficient than Shuhu's.
After a brief probe, just as 'Jingliu' was about to completely annihilate this disgusting creature, a wave of precision strikes, blanketing the entire Swarm, came hurtling in from the distance!
Celenova's Legion had entered the fray!
Amidst the bombardment that seemed to cover the entire battlefield, that colossal warship, surrounded by countless Voidrangers, plunged into the heart of the conflict like a sharp blade.
It launched an attack on everyone present simultaneously!
In one move, it dragged the watching Xianzhou forces into the quagmire as well.
'Jingliu' pivoted, swinging her blade to shatter the beams that rained down upon her.
Then she gazed into the distance towards Celenova's flagship.
'Jingliu' had anticipated that Celenova wouldn't be able to resist making a move.
After all, if she just kept watching, it wouldn't be long before the Swarm, with terrifying efficiency, completely devoured all the Abundance worshippers.
And Celenova, who had come here specifically to bolster her forces, certainly wouldn't stand for that.
So she was bound to intervene and fight for resources.
Using the chaos of the melee to achieve her goal of expanding her army.
And as the Legion of Destruction carved its way into the battlefield, Voidrangers blossomed everywhere, even temporarily suppressing the Swarm.
Then, they were fed into Celenova's Legion's furnaces, reforged into soldiers of Destruction.
Just as 'Jingliu' extended the power of Propagation, when even the ranks of Destruction's soldiers began to birth Memory-Swarms, Celenova seemed to sense the anomaly.
Another torrent of flame, brimming with the infinite power of Destruction, erupted within the Legion, and rapidly coalesced into an endless sea of fire.
Thoughts were severed, memories incinerated, every shred of individual will was utterly suppressed—Celenova's will now completely permeated the entire Legion.
Thoroughly eliminating any possibility that her own side's memories could provide troops for the enemy.
The battlefield had dissolved into complete chaos.
Endless Swarms weaved through hellfire potent enough to ignite star systems; Abundance worshippers wailed, crushed between the Swarm and Destruction.
The Galaxy Rangers fired the flare to rally.
Countless Rangers descended from the cosmos, joining forces with the Xianzhou fleets to assault Celenova's Legion of Destruction.
Leaving the Yuque Divination Commission to hold the line and command, Jing Yuan personally led the elite, summoning his golden Lightning Lord.
Together with General Xuanquan, who had transformed into a dragon, they charged towards the heart of the Legion—the location of the flagship—attempting to decapitate Celenova and sever the Legion's terrifying coordinated efficiency at its root.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL