Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 125: Raphael’s End

Chapter 125: Raphael’s End

Chaos reigned as people fired at her, but Lyra’s light shield deflected every attack.

Some Peculiar with extreme speed even tried to break through, but Lyra’s shield held firm, blocking him too.

When she burst into the control room, the guards attacked without hesitation. If not for Schedar in her hand, Lyra would’ve been torn apart by bullets.

Outside, loud pounding sounds echoed as people tried to force their way in, causing the gate to bend under the pressure.

Lyra used Schedar to reinforce the door, deciding it wasn’t worth the risk to face these level-six foes head-on.

She made her way over the blood-smeared floor, reached the control panel, and quickly accessed the ship’s systems.

Outside, between the military base and the spaceship, a fierce battle raged.

Superpowers clashed, throwing debris and dust into the air.

Anton, severely injured, used his ability to bring Andre back into the fray. With one more level-seven fighter on their side, their odds of survival increased.

Moreover, Anton’s space-twisting ability would also help a lot.

But amidst the fighting, the spaceship suddenly stirred, starting to move.

Kogar, overseeing the base’s defense, felt panic rise. "Prepare for defense!" he shouted.

Before anyone could react, the ship veered off course, flying rapidly in another direction.

Raphael unleashed a blast of fire to force Andre back, and then he tried contacting the control room through his earpiece. Silence. Something was off.

Suddenly, the superpower particles around Raphael swirled violently.

Cohen and the others, who were about to strike, froze.

Raphael’s expression twisted with fury. His mouth stretched unnaturally wide as he began hissing.

His head flattened like a venomous snake, and his filthy suit shredded apart. Below the waist, his body transformed into a massive, ten-meter-long snake, blood on top with a pale, pus-covered belly.

The sight was both grotesque and terrifying.

A rancid stench poured off him, so strong that those nearby felt sick, their heads spinning.

"Poison! Hold your breath!" someone yelled.

Without warning, Raphael shot toward the spaceship. He kicked up a cloud of yellow dust in his wake, moving with unbelievable speed.

"Don’t let him reach the ship!" Cohen yelled, using his gravity powers to slow Raphael down.

"Get off me!" Raphael growled, shaking off the gravity after a few seconds. But those few seconds gave his enemies enough time to launch a new barrage of attacks.

Frustrated, Raphael snarled at his guys, "You two, check the ship! Now!"

His followers immediately sped off. They jumped onto their Levs, with two level-seven fighters hot on their heels.

The spaceship, though fast, was still a massive target.

After some time, they spotted it hovering in the distance.

Just then, with a rumbling crash, the cargo bay doors opened, dumping the collected minerals in a heap. After unloading, the ship began to rise slowly again.

Nervous, one of Raphael’s men pushed his Levs harder, trying to catch up. Just as they were closing in, an intense flash of light erupted, followed by an explosion so powerful it seemed to split the world in two.

The blast wave ripped through the sky, tearing apart the clouds, shattering the air, and flattening everything for miles around.

The two Seething Fires had no chance to react before the explosion’s fury consumed them. Their skin was ripped away, then their bones obliterated in the blink of an eye.

The two level-seven fighters trailing behind turned to flee. Though they survived the initial blast, the shockwave slammed them to the ground, leaving them broken and unable to move.

The explosion stretched on for nearly ten minutes.

From above, it looked like a monstrous firework blooming across the land. In the middle of the giant crater left behind, a silver egg gleamed under the sun before slowly shrinking into a small sphere.

"Cough, cough—"

Lyra let the child slip from her arms as she bent over, blood dripping from her lips. Her psychokinesis had been pushed beyond its limit, leaving her vision dim. She staggered, sinking to one knee.

"Miss!" The boy rushed to her side, tears streaming from his red eyes as he tried to hold her up.

At the same time, the Galestone cub, now freed, rolled out of the shrinking egg. She stretched her short claws, wobbling forward on her chubby hind legs.

With her back fin raised, she lifted off into the sky.

Despite the human’s appealing power, she longed to reunite with her parents more. As she flew, her back fin emitted a high-pitched sound.

The explosion had wiped out nearly all creatures nearby, but the male Galestone beast appeared, searching for his cub.

His heavily injured mate soon emerged from the earth as well. The cub’s joy was instant as she dashed into her mother’s embrace, nuzzling into her familiar warmth and sensing the comforting power still lingering on her.

Lyra, now a bit steadier, spotted the black box that had fallen nearby. It was a cube about a foot wide, reflecting an eerie light in the sun.

The core of the spaceship, it held every bit of data from the ship’s systems.

"Help... help..."

A weak cry reached her ears, carried by the wind.

Lyra took out a Lev from her Space Button, stepping onto it to leave. The black-haired child quickly clung to her waist, his large, tearful eyes silently pleading as he looked up at her.

Riding the Lev, Lyra soon found two level-seven fighters buried under rubble. They weren’t familiar to her, probably bodyguards from other caravans.

"Cough, cough!"

Startled, the two men glanced at her. One of them managed to speak. "Save me, and our boss will reward you greatly!"

Lyra didn’t hesitate. Using a light beam, she lifted the debris.

"If I leave you here, I could probably get more rewards on my own."

PUFF, PUFF.

Two quick piercing sounds followed, echoing in the still air.

Without a word, Lyra flew away on the Lev. Her hand, once covering the boy’s eyes, now dropped to her side. Silence stretched between them as they sped back.

"I... I’m Phelixes," the boy finally murmured, nervously holding the edge of her dress. "What’s your name?"

"You don’t need to know."

"I don’t remember where I’m from."

"The military will handle that."

"I... "

"Shut up."

"Oh... okay."

After a while, Lyra sensed a powerful wave of superpower particles up ahead. She stopped abruptly.

Phelixes stared at her, confused, as her silver armor began covering her entire body. Panicked, he scrambled to grab hold of her. "Don’t leave me!"

Lyra gently pushed him back.

"Stay out of the way."

She readied her superpower-charged gun and used the terrain for cover, moving quickly toward the battle.

At that moment, Raphael was teetering on the edge of a full-blown rampage. The remaining level-seven fighters were barely managing to hold him back. Two of the weaker ones had already fallen, too exhausted to continue.

The massive red serpent thrashed forward, but the fighters clung to him, preventing any escape. Raphael’s eyes were wild with rage as he suddenly halted.

"I didn’t want to use this, for it disgusts even myself, but look what you made me do."

Without warning, the purple boils covering his snake-like body began to burst open, releasing thick clouds of dark, toxic pus that hovered in the air.

Everyone felt their skin crawl with fear. The poison Raphael unleashed was so strong that even a breath of it left their heads spinning.

If it touched them directly, they’d be done for.

Without a word, everyone retreated, but the deadly toxin spread like a flood.

"Ahhh—"

Screams filled the air as those caught in the poisonous rain were consumed by rapid decay. Their bodies swelled, turned purple, and their flesh rotted in seconds.

Raphael’s face twisted with satisfaction as he prepared to flee the battlefield. But then, a faint whooshing sound caught his ear.

Instinctively, he jerked to the side, narrowly dodging the incoming attack.

Cohen, climbing out of his damaged mecha, saw the moment unfold. He summoned every last ounce of his superpower, shouting, "Don’t miss!"

In an instant, Raphael was pinned down once more by Cohen’s gravity, unable to escape.

A second later, a green bullet pierced through Raphael’s skull.

His massive body hit the ground hard, his eyes still glowing with a desperate urge to survive.

In the bright sunlight, a silver blade descended like a comet, striking Raphael’s arms and neck, the final blade aimed at his chest.

Desperate, Raphael conjured a fireball to block the blade.

But a figure dropped from the sky, landing with one foot on the blade, pressing it through the flames and straight into his heart.

The fireball sputtered out, and the superpower particles dispersed.

Raphael shrank back into his human form, his clothes shredded, his hair scorched black. The light in his eyes began to fade.

"In this life... there were two women I loved most..."

Raphael tried to smile softly, but blood mixed with tears streamed from his narrow eyes.

"My mother... thought I was ugly, so she threw me away. Now... you... you drove a blade into my chest..."

The figure standing on the blade—the woman he had crafted into his ideal doll, beautiful and cold—looked down at him in silence, her icy eyes showing no emotion.

"Ah... you’re still a... vision..."

With that final, broken whisper, the light in Raphael’s eyes flickered out, and his body went still.