Chapter Forty-Seven: The Celestial Dog Devours the Sun

"There are many people in this world with powerful martial arts and strange abilities; they are not like anyone we have encountered before!" The stone hopped a few times in the air as it spoke.

It had been captured by someone with strange abilities over fifty years ago, and for those five decades, it had been held prisoner. If not for the person before it now, it never would have been able to escape on its own.

"It wasn't here when I came last time!"

"To think so much has changed in just over ten thousand years!" the stone sighed. "The technology of over a hundred thousand years ago wasn't even as powerful as what they had ten millennia later! Do you think they've wasted all these years?"

"Still, this has taught us a lesson: there is always someone better, and there is always a sky beyond the sky," the man in black warned, his guard up. "I feel as if there is a pair of eyes in the sky watching me."

"A feeling... it feels just like Zero watching me from behind!"

"That's impossible! Zero has almost no life force left! How could it possibly see us?" the man in black asked, puzzled. If Zero were in its prime, he might believe it, but now that most of its life force and even its memories were gone, how could it see them?

They were standing in the very cavern where a portion of Zero's life force resided; the air still carried that familiar scent.

"Do you know there is something in the sky spying on us?" The stone rephrased its question, as if trying to politely express that someone was watching them at all times. Not knowing how else to put it, it simply blurted it out directly. It hadn't noticed this feeling while trapped within the formation, but now that it was out, this sensation of being watched was intense. That was why it asked, unsure.

"I also feel like there's always someone watching me from the sky, but I've gotten used to it over time. It hasn't posed any threat to me anyway," the man in black shrugged.

"I always feel like I'm being watched; it feels weird!" The stone bounced around in the air, speaking uneasily.

"Then let's make it disappear!" the man in black declared arrogantly after hearing the stone.

"Can you still invoke the Power of Sanction with the energy you have left?"

"I'm not confident," the man in black said, drooping his head slightly.

"And yet you were so sure of yourself when you said we should make it disappear!" the stone mocked him.

"We have to try! Only then will we know if it works!"

The man in black extended his palm, and the stone met it in agreement. Patterns began to emerge on the surface of the stone, while a shimmering, net-like glow appeared on the man’s body. Within a few short breaths, their auras began to merge, as if they were becoming one.

Standing on the pillar, an nameless power gathered within them. Various black substances surged from the surrounding walls and fused into their bodies. Suddenly, a beam of black light shot straight into the heavens, piercing through layers of clouds like a ray of sunlight, instantly breaking through the Earth's atmosphere and hurtling toward the center of the galaxy...

"Ding!"

"Unknown beam detected heading toward Xi! Estimated time to contact with the interstellar communication hub: five seconds."

"Can you stop it?" The Chief stood at the command console, his face turning pale and grave.

"Following the Great Cataclysm, Earth has not developed any energy capable of breaching the atmosphere," the synthetic electronic voice replied coldly, as if it had nothing to do with him. "Magnetic energy is nearly depleted; it is insufficient to launch anything into outer space," the voice added, as if fearing the man before it might not understand.

"It's over." The Chief watched the beam slowly reach the interstellar communication hub and slumped powerlessly into his chair. If not for the core vibrations and resource depletion a thousand years ago, they would not feel so helpless against threats from outer space.

***

Once Xi was destroyed, communication on the Azure Planet would fall into paralysis. The military would be hit the hardest; civilians lacked the means to purchase communication media like mobile phones, and the academies had largely reverted to a society without technology or electrical power.

The military, in particular, relied on Xi to monitor the country. If it discovered powerful individuals with strong motives for destruction, it would order them to be watched to prevent further loss of innocent lives.

The country was vast and sparsely populated. Relying solely on manpower, horses, and carrier pigeons, information took anywhere from three days to several months to travel.

"Notify the regional military commands and have them inform the various academies: the country's resources are exhausted. We can no longer support regional communications. As of now, all connections are severed, and all regions are to enter a state of Level One alert." The Chief watched the countdown on the screen and spoke with a grim expression.

"Approximately two seconds until the video feed is cut. Artificial Intelligence... Xi... will no longer be able to serve you. I hope you have a good future. Commencing deletion of all data. Estimated time to completion: one second."

The cold, synthetic voice reached the Chief's ears. He couldn't tell if the AI had intentionally added weight to its tone or if the tone was merely a fluctuation caused by the deletion of its own data. Hearing Xi's voice, the Chief's tense face slowly relaxed, and his stiff shoulders slumped against the chair like a defeated rooster.

Without any defense, without a glimmer of hope, the unknown beam struck the slowly drifting interstellar communication hub, "Xi," right before his eyes.

The massive object floating in the universe emitted a dazzling light after being struck by the thin beam. Its titanium alloy shell was broken down into tiny particles, turning into dust. On the screen, the dense streams of data instantly vanished, and the video feed was cut.

The Chief sighed. The entire command room fell into a dead silence, save for the sound of ragged breathing, as if mourning the demise of Xi. The cold voice had accompanied him for so many years; even though it was just an AI, why did he feel such an emptiness in his heart, as if he had lost something most precious?

"Success, wasn't it?" the man in black said triumphantly.

"But I feel like the Power of Sanction we summoned still has some energy left," the stone said, its brow furrowing in a human-like manner. "We can't let it go to waste!" it thought to itself.

"Then let's use the remaining Power of Sanction to trigger an apocalypse!"

"No! The power is nearly spent. Even if we destroyed the Earth's core, it wouldn't cause much of a natural disaster. It can only..."

Although the interstellar hub "Xi" had been destroyed, the thin beam of the Power of Sanction did not disappear. Under the stone's control, it plunged directly into Earth's atmosphere.

The Earth appeared to sprout dense vines, and the once-azure sky instantly turned black. In the country, where it was already night, it simply became darker; people didn't pay it much mind. On the other side of the globe, in the American Federation, it caused a massive sensation as the daylight sky turned pitch black.

Those reading indoors found themselves in complete darkness, unable to see the words on their pages. Those doing needlework or painting lost their light; some pricked their fingers, while others made a mistake on a masterpiece, turning it into waste.

However, the darkness lasted only a second before returning to daylight. People chatted about it briefly before moving on; they had seen strange phenomena like "celestial dogs eating the sun" before, so after a moment of surprise, they returned to their tasks.

This was only true for the civilians; for the high-level researchers of the Federation, it was different. Resources that civilians considered high-end were used recklessly by these researchers in their pursuit of a better new energy source. They hadn't noticed the Earth falling into darkness because they possessed the last of the "magnetic energy."

Though the lab was kept at a constant temperature, the researchers wiped cold sweat from their brows. They were exhausted from their research, and though their throats were dry, their burning passion remained—until something blocked that passion.

The lab suddenly lost all light and plunged into darkness. Normally, the lab’s energy supply should never have been interrupted.

***

Their research was top priority; even if the President were handling national affairs in the dark, his power would be cut long before the lab's. But not the lab—if their research were interrupted, it could cause an explosion. They had backup power, enough to last a long time!

Yet, here they were, in a pitch-black lab. The other researchers stopped their work, but one researcher didn't stop; he was at a critical stage, and a pause might cause an explosion.

The darkness did not hinder his work in the slightest. Various reagents were added to the beakers in an orderly fashion. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Almost finished!" he thought.

Suddenly, a point of light appeared in his eyes, and he collapsed onto the table behind him.

"Who turned off the lights!" he shouted in a rage. He had been so close to finishing his research, but because the lights went out, he had added an extra milliliter of reagent, and it had failed. Even a clay figurine has a temper!

The other researchers sat quietly at their stations, suppressing their anger, waiting for an explanation from their superiors. They turned their heads, looking in surprise at the man who had yelled.

"Zhenhua! What's wrong? Why are you shouting?" his colleague asked with concern.

"My research was almost complete! I was just about to create a new energy source! Because the lights went out, I failed! Don't you think I have a right to be angry?" Zhenhua retorted.

"Why don't you try again?" his friend asked, pulling a cylinder slightly larger than a pen from his pocket.

"Then turn on the light!" Zhenhua’s tone softened as he recognized his friend's voice and realized something.

"Huh! Why isn't it turning on?" his friend said, confused as he flipped the switch.

Suddenly, the whole room was in an uproar. Though they couldn't see everything clearly, they could make out silhouettes. They all pulled out their own cylinders and flipped the switches, but none of them would turn on.

They struck the cylinders in frustration, but not a flicker of light appeared. This had happened before in the lab, but the cylinders had always worked as emergency lights. Why weren't they working now?

"Has the Earth's energy been exhausted?"

"It must be, otherwise why would the lab lose power?"

"Then why are the cylinders dead too? They have independent power sources."

"Is it the end of the world?"

"It couldn't be true, could it?"

"It must be! Even the independent power sources are dead!"

"Run!"

"Ah!..."