N-M Chapter 128: FIGHTER SHIP
Chapter 128: FIGHTER SHIP
Levi appeared outside the spaceship in the next instant.
His eyes were as cold as ice.
But unlike the calm coldness the students were used to, this one carried killing intent.
Space itself quaked from the intent emanating from his presence.
"What do you want?" He asked.
His palm rested on his sword’s hilt as he addressed the invaders.
The man in the lead stepped forward, as if the void itself were solid ground he could march across at will.
Adorned in a black shirt, blue trousers, and a crimson coat. The man looked like a tyrant.
A long slanted scar ran from his forehead down to his left eye.
A thick cigar was held firmly between two fingers.
"I am Patrick. I don’t want much. Just the children in the spaceship."
He smiled lightly, spreading both arms wide.
"I will let you live. Fair deal, right?"
"No."
Levi replied, cold and direct.
His words carried no emotion, as though spoken by something that had never learned what emotion was.
Patrick’s smile widened.
"Scarlet Swordsman indeed. I knew you wouldn’t yield."
"Then you should not have wasted your time saying that."
Patrick’s laughter faded into a smile.
"Do you know we are from the Anti-Empire Alliance?" He asked gently.
Levi did not reply.
’I already knew. Those people are the only ones bold enough to stop a ship bearing the Empire’s banner,’ he thought.
Seeing Levi say nothing, Patrick continued.
"The true purpose of this encounter is to recruit you under our banner."
"It seems you came only to say rubbish."
Levi replied.
The entire void shook. A tremor that threatened to consume the surrounding space spread outward from his position.
Patrick sighed.
"We shall do it the hard way then."
Both of them vanished.
Not vanished exactly. More like they stepped into a dimension beyond the current one.
Patrick’s companions did not linger.
Their gazes settled on the spaceship standing behind where Levi had been moments ago.
They lunged.
Clang.
A sharp cry tore through the void.
A moon on the far end was sliced cleanly in two as the shockwave rippled outward.
The companions leapt back, having narrowly avoided the sword arc.
Looking forward, they saw Levi.
"Did he leave his Astral Projection here?" One of them asked, eyes wide.
"Obviously," the other replied.
"Does that not put him at a disadvantage against Lord Patrick?"
"Who cares? We need to find a way to defeat this thing quickly."
The other stared at the one who spoke like he had lost his mind.
"We are only at the Resonance Realm. How can we face the projection of a Stellar Realm cultivator?"
"You can run away, then. But prepare to explain yourself to your family in the afterlife once the Alliance is done with them."
His breath hitched.
Thinking of his family, and thinking of the Alliance, the man did not even consider running.
"If we push to our limit, we can defeat it. An astral projection only has the cultivator’s elements as support."
They looked at each other.
Then they lunged.
"Argh."
Inside the spaceship, the students watched the projection and the two enemies hurling themselves at it.
"Can Master Levi handle all of them at once?" One of them asked, tears already falling.
"Do not underestimate Lord Levi. He will win."
"What is that?" Another pointed toward a small spaceship flying toward their own.
"That is a fighter ship. It can carry at least a million warriors."
Like a balloon punctured by a needle, everyone erupted.
"We are all dead," someone yelled.
Chaos spread through the corridor.
"Where are you all going?" A voice cut through, calm and unhurried.
It was Sylvester.
He floated above everyone with an elegance that felt almost otherworldly.
"We are all candidates for the prestigious Imperial Academy. Why would you show fear before enemies?" He asked, his tone carrying a gentle rebuke.
"Lord Levi is out there holding back the three most dangerous people among them. It is our duty not to let him down."
The chaos began to settle.
Sylvester smiled as he watched confidence slowly return to the students around him.
"We can do this."
That was all it took.
They roared, weapons appearing in every shade imaginable as they recalled them from their AI spaces.
"At least he handled that well," Billie whispered, unfolding her arms.
Meanwhile, Amelia had slipped away when the chaos began.
She was moving through the corridors, checking rooms one by one.
"Where is Silas?" She murmured.
Her voice was hurried and fearful at the same time.
Then someone caught her eye.
"Asher," she called, running toward him.
"Where is Silas?"
"He is in his room," Asher replied, neither hurried nor alarmed.
"Get him out. The ship is no longer safe."
"I cannot do that," Asher replied.
Amelia’s expression darkened.
"What do you mean you cannot?" She asked, grabbing him by the collar. "Are you waiting until he is killed in his own room?"
"I am his bodyguard. My duty is to keep him safe. No harm will come to him while I am here," Asher said.
To him, even if every other student on the ship perished, as long as Silas lived, he had fulfilled his purpose.
That was why, through the entire chaos, he had not moved a single step from Silas’s door.
Amelia rolled her fist until it whitened.
It shot toward Asher’s face.
Asher remained calm.
He caught it with one palm.
"I am letting that go because I know you care for Silas. Do not try it again."
Boom.
A loud explosion came from inside the room.
Amelia’s eyes widened.
She did not think. She shoved Asher away from the door.
Or so she thought.
"Do not make a sound," Asher said quietly, stopping her.
"He is breaking through to the Monarch stage of the Ascendant Realm. Any disturbance could put his life in danger," he warned.
"Breaking through?"
In the same instant, the fighter spaceship phased through the Academy’s ship as though it did not exist.
The latch opened, releasing an overwhelming number of people.
Amelia looked toward the breach, then back at Asher.
"Please. Keep him safe."