Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 182: One Step To Level Seven

Chapter 182: One Step To Level Seven

Erin might as well have had the word "scheme" tattooed on her forehead, her intentions glaringly obvious.

Lyra cast a quick glance over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing. "Fine."

This could easily turn into her opportunity to strike back.

Without another thought, she followed Erin—whose smug smirk made it clear she thought she’d already won—straight towards the mecha bay.

At that same moment, Kail was on the verge of leaving. His entire squad had been decimated during the chaotic fight at the trading market. The crushing weight of defeat hung heavily over him. When he saw Lyra, he managed to whisper, "Sis..."

She didn’t break stride. "Let’s go."

Kail blinked, caught off guard. "You’re heading out too?"

But he didn’t need much time to piece it together. His expression darkened, and he shot Erin a sharp look. "You’re still trying to hurt her? Even now?"

With no one else around, Erin didn’t bother hiding her twisted intentions. "Oh, I’m not just trying. I want both of you dead!"

The tension was palpable, almost electric, and Kail’s energy flared like a storm ready to break. Erin’s smirk only widened.

"Didn’t you say we were going?" Lyra cut in, slicing through the hostility in the air.

Erin faltered, momentarily thrown off. ’Why isn’t Lyra panicking? She has to know this is a trap. But, no matter, there’s no escaping this time.’

"We’ll use the level-six mechas," Erin said, lifting her chin and pointing towards a tall, multi-colored model nearby. "We need to reinforce Vice Admiral Shedd’s unit."

Lyra calmly picked a sleek, red humanoid mecha. After a quick, thorough inspection, she closed the cockpit, locking herself in.

Kail opened his mouth, on the verge of calling out to her, telling her not to go. But Lyra didn’t spare him a glance, sealing any chance for protest.

In a flash, the golden, red, and purple mechas launched into the blackness of space, one after the other.

Meanwhile, Leandro was neck-deep in battle with the notorious Broken Blade. His concentration was shattered when an electromagnetic cannon blast took out one of the enemy mechas in a flash of light.

A grin spread across his face as he used his superpowers to hurl nearby asteroids at the enemy, landing another devastating blow.

"Sir, providing support from range," came a calm, feminine voice over his comms.

Leandro’s smile vanished. Disbelief washed over him, quickly replaced by anger.

Still battling on the front lines, his face twisted. "Shedd, why the hell is an *intern* out here? Are you kidding me?"

Ansel, who was locked in combat with another commander off in the distance, replied in his usual calm tone, "She needs the field experience."

Leandro nearly choked on his frustration, but with the Broken Blades pushing their relentless attack, he had no time to argue.

Back in the thick of it, Lyra’s mecha continued its assault, every shot landing with deadly precision. Her accuracy was so infuriating that two level-eight commanders quickly ordered their squads to converge on her position.

Surrounded and without backup, Lyra’s fingers moved like lightning across her controls.

She expertly dodged the incoming laser fire, weaving through the assault and launching counterattacks.

As she maneuvered, her powers surged to life. Tendrils of green energy snaked through the battlefield, piercing enemy cockpits and mechas with lethal precision.

Chunks of debris drifted through space, while blood, violently sucked from shattered cockpits, stained the cold, empty void.

She moved like a ghostly predator on the battlefield, sowing fear in the hearts of her enemies.

Her crimson mecha sliced through the chaos, drawing the attention of an enemy commander.

Suddenly, a beam of electromagnetic energy shot towards her from behind. Her reflexes were razor-sharp, fingers flying over the controls as she narrowly dodged the attack.

This wasn’t just any mecha. This was high-level one.

Lyra’s eyes scanned the battlefield, quickly locking onto Erin’s location. Without hesitation, she steered her mecha directly toward her.

Seeing Lyra hurtling towards her, Erin’s heart skipped a beat. Panic surged through her, and she turned her mecha, desperately trying to escape.

"Damn you, Lyra!"

But Lyra’s machine was faster, more powerful. To make things worse, Lyra wasn’t just any pilot—she was a level-seven Peculiar, her abilities far beyond Erin’s. A laser beam shot out from Lyra’s mecha, cleanly slicing through Erin’s arm.

"Grandpa!" Erin shrieked, her voice thick with fear and desperation.

Ansel had thrown her into this battlefield, but he hadn’t come to save her yet.

Lyra was making her getaway when, without warning, her entire mecha locked up, frozen in place.

’An Absolute Field? But whose?’ Before she could fully process it, an electromagnetic cannon blast hurtled toward her with terrifying speed.

Her lips thinned into a sharp line as her superpower flared to life. With a surge of energy, she latched onto the fleeing golden mecha nearby, yanking it back with violent force.

The moment it collided with the blast, a massive explosion tore through the battlefield, casting blinding light across the void.

In the distance, Ansel’s eye twitched as Erin’s panicked scream filled his earpiece.

"Arghh—!"

Realizing Erin was out of her depth, Ansel had no choice but to divert her battered mecha toward the medical ship.

Meanwhile, Lyra remained immobilized, trapped in the grip of the spatial force of his Absolute Field.

From afar, Leandro sensed something was off. Amid the chaos of superpowers and explosions, he couldn’t immediately tell who had Lyra locked down, but he wasn’t about to let her fall.

Just as he prepared to rush to her aid, Broken Blade swarmed in, blocking his path again.

"Leandro!" a taunting voice rang through his comms. "I only play with you because I like you. Now you’re worried about OTHER girls? You’re begging for it!"

A massive cannon blast launched straight for Lyra, still caught in the spatial snare.

Leandro’s anger flared, and with a quick burst of his superpower, he deflected the attack just in time. But it wasn’t over yet—another high-level mecha, which had been stalking Lyra from the start, fired off a fresh assault.

Nearby, Kail spotted Lyra’s growing danger. His mind flashed back to the haunting memory of the day he had found her, bloodied and broken in the basement.

That image snapped him into action. Without a second thought, he plunged his mecha toward her, determined to shield her.

But as soon as he crossed into Ansel’s Absolute Field, he, too, was frozen in place.

Then came the blinding blue light. An electromagnetic cannon fired at full force, its intensity searing across the battlefield like a sun.

Lyra, feeling the attack zero in on her, moved to activate her Schedar.

However, at the crucial moment, her psychokinesis backfired. One of her seals malfunctioned, throwing her powers into chaos.

"Damn it!"

Her superpower spiraled wildly, surging out of control and threatening to consume her.

Just as the energy seemed to peak, a brilliant light erupted from the Crystal Core deep within her mind—she was advancing!

For a brief, disorienting moment, her consciousness seemed to separate from her body. She found herself in a vast, cosmic landscape where stars and black holes swirled in eerie silence.

A small, serene green crystal floated amidst it all, quietly drawing energy from the universe around it.

It clicked—this was the world of psychokinesis and superpowers.

Some of the energy was being devoured by the black holes, their greedy pull irritating her to the core.

With a sheer force of will, she shattered them, reclaiming the power they had stolen.

Then, something else caught her eye—a tiny white crystal.

’Could it be...?’ Lyra held her breath as she stared at it, understanding flashing in an instant. Three seals glowed faintly before her: one purple, one red, and one violently trembling white seal.

’Of course...something’s wrong with the queen bee.’

Her lips pressed together in a grim line. She focused, pushing down the swirling chaos of her psychokinesis, forcing it back into submission.

...

Meanwhile, on Wyrmtrace, outside the base, a tense group faced down the rampaging queen bee.

They braced themselves for the worst, but just as the creature was about to strike, she suddenly froze, going still.

Cohen seized the opportunity. "Now’s our chance—kill her!" he ordered.

"No!" Mandy rushed forward, throwing her arms out wide to shield the beast. "She’s only out of control because of the drugs! Look, she’s calming down!"

But before they could react, the queen bee sensed danger and shot underground, attempting to flee.

Mendez’s level-seven Peculiar didn’t hesitate. She unleashed her full power, fully prepared to obliterate both Mandy and the Queen.

"You old witch, you’re dead if you try that!" Caesara roared, launching herself forward to intercept the attack.

At the same moment, Anton activated his spatial barrier, enveloping Mandy in a protective shield just in time. The battlefield descended into chaos, and Cohen tried desperately to regain control.

"Everyone, STOP!" he shouted, his voice drowned out by the clashing forces.

Amidst the pandemonium, Caesara’s gaze sharpened with sudden purpose.

Without warning, she teleported Mendez’s butler directly into Anton’s Absolute Field.

The collision of two opposing spatial domains caused a violent rupture in space, shredding the unfortunate butler into pieces instantly!

...

Deep in the outer space of Voidstar No. 1...

A brilliant green light exploded across the battlefield, so bright and intense it felt like it pierced through the very fabric of the soul.

The glow was hypnotic, drawing the eyes of everyone on the battlefield, but the true impact came seconds later—a crushing wave of psychokinesis that slammed into the minds of every soldier, commander, and Peculiar like a psychic tidal wave.

Even Ansel found himself reeling from the force of her power.

He had underestimated Lyra completely. The psychokinesis she unleashed was monstrous—far beyond anything he could have imagined.

Level-eight Peculiars, scattered across the battlefield like predators, suddenly faltered, their vision spinning as if the universe had flipped upside down.

The once unshakable Absolute Field’ began to crumble, its hold over space and time fraying at the edges, slowly unraveling like a thread being pulled from the fabric of reality.

When Lyra finally snapped back to consciousness, it felt like her entire body was on fire.

The searing pain was relentless, as if every cell in her being screamed out in protest. She had done the unthinkable—she had ascended to level-seven without first removing one Soul Spike embedded in her, a move as reckless as it was dangerous.

And now, her body was paying the price.

Her chest heaved, each breath a battle. The power surging within her was too great, too wild to control.

It was tearing her apart from the inside, stretching her physical limits to the breaking point.

’It’s too much...’