"Just how many troops has the Antimatter Legion sent to the space station?"
March 7th never expected to run into so many Voidrangers even after Clara had cleared out so many of them earlier with a single slash. They just kept appearing all along the way.
"Are these Voidrangers really that worthless to the Antimatter Legion?"
March couldn't stop herself from grumbling aloud.
"They really are that worthless," Clara replied with a light laugh, hearing her complaint. "For the Antimatter Legion, all it takes is finding a planet with a large enough population, and they can churn out billions of Voidrangers."
"Sure, they're just monsters a bit stronger than your average person. But the sheer numbers—flooding a world with them, drowning it in bodies—is enough to easily wipe out a planet."
Clara's tone was flat as she explained. In her mind, the Antimatter Legion ranked as the second most detestable faction. As for the first?
That would, of course, be a certain company she'd recently blown sky-high~
In Clara's eyes, most of what the IPC did wasn't any different from acts of Destruction. But compared to the Antimatter Legion, the IPC's brand of 'Destruction' was even more excessive.
Most of the Legion's destruction involved unleashing calamities, letting a world slowly crumble, or sometimes just swatting it out of existence in one brutal strike.
The IPC's 'Destruction,' however, came in the form of 'benevolent charity'—enslaving populations to work for the company for eternity, living lives worse than dogs, with generations to come forever trapped under the IPC's crushing influence.
If that were all, it might be one thing. In a universe where the strong prey on the weak, such things weren't exactly rare. Even among the Stellaron Hunters, which Clara belonged to, they'd done plenty of similar deeds.
But the main reason Clara loathed the IPC was their sheer hypocrisy.
When the Stellaron Hunters did something bad, they owned up to it openly.
The Antimatter Legion was the same: 'That planet, that star system—yeah, we destroyed it. We did it. What of it? Got a problem? Come fight us.'
And the Interastral Peace Corporation? They'd pen lengthy manifestos about how filthy a given planet was, how wicked its people. They'd turn black into white, painting the IPC—the clear invaders—as the righteous party.
Then they'd spout some line about 'for the sake of the entire universe, they must be contained,' before using underhanded methods to seize total control over them and their world.
Finally, they'd issue a statement saying the company had 'no choice' but to act.
Really no choice.
That's why Clara found the Interastral Peace Corporation so thoroughly repulsive. She'd already made a private vow: anytime the IPC established a new headquarters, she'd show up to set off some celebratory fireworks.
Of course, not everyone in the company was like that. The Strategic Investment Department under the IPC was somewhat more tolerable in Clara's eyes. Otherwise, when she'd bombed the company last time, she wouldn't have let Diamond disarm the explosives—she'd have just slapped him into critical condition instead.
(A/N: The Preservation Emanator severely injured by Clara in Chapter 1 was not Diamond, but an original character of mine (OG Author), who likely won't appear again.)
As for the Antimatter Legion, in Clara's mind, they were slightly better than the IPC—though not by much.
If she only knew where the Legion's headquarters was, she'd absolutely pay them a visit to teach them a lesson.
She'd have to find some time to force… no, beg Elio to locate the Legion's base for her. Clara wanted to deliver them some 'warmth.'
They'd grown so accustomed to destroying others; it was high time they tasted what it felt like to be destroyed.
"I see… Hey, Sparkle," March 7th nodded, then asked, "since the Legion is attacking the space station so coordinated, doesn't that mean there must be a leader?"
But she immediately caught herself, looking a bit nervous, her blue-and-pink eyes fixed on Clara. "Um… is it okay if I call you Sparkle…?"
Hearing this, Clara gave a soft chuckle. "Of course it's okay."
Then she continued, "Just as you guessed. As creations of Destruction, these Voidrangers attacking in such unison means there's at least one entity—probably more—directing them."
"An entity capable of leading so many Voidrangers… it… it couldn't be a Lord Ravager, could it…?"
"That, I don't know," Clara shook her head. Whether a Lord Ravager would show up in the end was uncertain, but for now, at least, she didn't sense the presence of any around or within the space station.
Then again, even if one did come, it wouldn't be a big deal. At worst, her hands would just get stained with the blood of a Lord Ravager. hehe~
"Actually, you don't need to worry too much. On my way to the space station, I spotted a Doomsday Beast lurking nearby and took care of it as a matter of course."
"Look on the bright side: maybe that Doomsday Beast was the leader of this Antimatter Legion invasion of Herta's space station. And now, it's dead."
"A Doomsday Beast…" March 7th muttered, lowering her head in thought. "What's that? Some kind of leader in the Antimatter Legion?"
"I've long heard the Astral Express has a data archive room," Clara said unhurriedly, addressing March's confusion.
"You mean the Data Bank, right?"
"Mhm. The Astral Express has traveled the universe for ages. Even though it's suffered considerable damage over time, the knowledge stored in its Data Bank must be incredibly vast."
"What do you mean?" March was baffled. What did a Doomsday Beast have to do with the Data Bank?
"Hmm? What I mean is, you should go read more books."
March 7th: "…"
"A Doomsday Beast is a war engine of the Legion. It can destroy a planet with ease," Clara explained, seeing March's expression. "Read more in the future. Otherwise, people will treat you like a fool and you won't even realize it."
March 7th: "…"
"Do you think I'm an idiot?"
Under March's steady gaze, Clara slowly nodded.
…
Clara: Regarding the Antimatter Legion
Substantial reward offered for the Legion's home address.
…
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