Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 323: Eclipsite

Chapter 323: Eclipsite

The crimson sunset cast an unsettling glow over the small mining town on the ore planet.

The air was heavy with metallic dust, carrying the sharp tang of rust and pressing down on everyone who breathed it in.

At the center of the settlement loomed the Royce Mining building, the only high-rise in sight.

Inside its expansive office, Jerome, the building’s owner, nervously mopped his brow, his strained smile barely concealing his anxiety.

The room was packed. Two old men and a group of black-haired individuals were locked in a heated discussion.

Around them, men and women with numbered tattoos on their necks crowded the spacious office, which stretched nearly a hundred square meters.

"Are you certain it’s her?" one of the old men asked.

"The resonance doesn’t lie," another responded with assurance.

Jerome’s face was slick with sweat. He had only reported the POSSIBILITY of an Alliance spy in town to the government. He was stunned to see the government had dispatched such a significant contingent of Master Peculiars to investigate.

...

At the town’s lone inn, Tracy paced restlessly near the entrance, throwing anxious glances outside.

"Damn that Serena," she muttered. "Still not back. Don’t tell me she packed up and ran off?" Her sharp gaze shifted to Lyra, who was calmly enjoying her meal.

"Miss Freya," Tracy called, "any idea where Serena went?"

Before Lyra could answer, Phelixes emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray of fruit pies. He set one in front of Lyra and offered, "I heard she went to Jerome’s building to pick up a child."

Lyra took her fork, speared a piece of pie, and brought it to her mouth. "Not bad," she remarked after taking a bite. She ate a few more pieces, then pushed the plate aside.

As good as the dessert was, she always preferred to indulge sparingly.

Tracy frowned. "That young woman usually takes the kids to the orphanage and comes back quickly. This isn’t like her."

Hearing this, Lucian set down his wine glass and stroked his thick beard. "I’ll check it out," he said gruffly, standing and heading for the door.

As Lucian disappeared into the distance, Lyra sipped her tea with deliberate calm.

Phelixes had brewed it perfectly, and she savored its delicate aroma.

It wasn’t long before Lucian returned, his face grim. "The gatekeeper said Serena went into Jerome’s building... but she hasn’t come out."

Tracy bit down on her cigarette, her eyes narrowing as she turned toward a man and woman seated at the bar.

The man sipped his coffee silently, while the woman seemed engrossed in watching him, neither showing the slightest reaction to the rising tension.

Lucian, exasperated by their indifference, was about to confront them when Tracy raised a hand to stop him. "Anything else unusual?" she asked, exhaling a plume of smoke.

Lucian hesitated. "Yeah. There were a lot of unfamiliar faces around there today. And parked outside were a bunch of red mechas." His voice dropped as his gaze flickered toward Lyra. "They looked like Imperial Army units."

Even then, Lyra remained expressionless.

At that moment, Liliana descended the stairs, her heels clicking softly against the wooden steps.

She glanced at her opticomputer and announced, "Breaking news—the Empire’s army and the Stellar Devourers are here." Her tone was as casual as if she were commenting on the weather. "They must have used a hyperspace portal to slip in unnoticed."

Leaning against the bar with a sly smile, she addressed Phelixes. "Aren’t you the least bit worried, darling?"

Phelixes calmly gathered the empty tray. "Are you, Miss Liliana?" he countered.

She chuckled lightly. "Not at all. The admiral is a good friend of mine."

At last, Lyra finished the last sip of her tea, placed the cup down, and rose from her seat. "Time to go," she said simply.

"Understood," Phelixes replied, falling into step behind her without hesitation.

Tracy called after them, quickly catching up as they reached the door. "Miss Freya! Do you need to settle your bill? You left more than enough money!"

Lyra paused in the middle of the street and turned her head slightly. "No need," she said softly.

As her words faded, the sky suddenly erupted with a deafening thunderclap.

Purple lightning arced outward from the Royce building, creating a glowing web that enveloped the entire town in a shimmering prison. The air buzzed with a terrifying, oppressive energy.

In the dark alleys, petty criminals turned pale and bolted for the safety of the inn.

From the rooftop of the towering building, mechas and countless shadowy figures burst forth like a swarm of bats, descending upon the town with terrifying speed.

The air seemed to boil as the town’s superpower particles flared up, agitated by their movements.

Tracy stood frozen, staring wide-eyed at the overwhelming wave of energy surging toward them. Fear gripped her heart.

Not far away, Lyra’s lips curled into a faint, enigmatic smile.

Suddenly, radiant emerald light erupted beneath her feet, propelling her skyward. The glow, vivid as a polished emerald, bathed the town, eclipsing the fading hues of the sunset.

For a moment, it was as if the world held its breath, entranced by the brilliance. From where she lay slumped by the window, Serena’s eyelids fluttered, her gaze widening in awe as the light reflected in her dimming eyes.

Even the Stellar Devourers, observing from a distance, found themselves paralyzed under the glow. Their strength seemed to drain away, and terror crept into their hearts.

Lyra’s power suppresses us so completely.

The experimental superhumans who had nearly reached Lyra erupted with a surge of abilities, unleashing a maelstrom of force aimed to engulf her like an unrelenting tide.

But in the blink of an eye, Phelixes stepped in front of Lyra, his superpower unfurling in full force. It was as if an abyss opened before him, swallowing every attack and reducing them to nothingness.

Lyra leapt into the air, creating icy platforms mid-flight to propel herself higher. Her movements were a blur, her blade flashing with deadly precision.

Corpses and blood rained down as her enemies fell one by one, powerless to stop her.

She had vanished for three years, but her return carried a crushing, unmatched intensity.

On the rooftop, a man with spiked hair frowned deeply. "She must not leave here alive," he growled, his teeth clenched.

"Agreed," another Stellar Devourer said beside him. "If she ascends to Supreme, we’re all doomed."

The two launched their attacks simultaneously, their combined superpowers radiating an energy that marked them as Supreme Peculiars.

Behind them, other Stellar Devourers watched in silence. Though reluctant to admit it, they had no choice but to rely on humanity’s strength to confront their own extinction crisis.

As the oppressive energy surged toward her, Lyra touched the space button on her neck. A shimmering, emerald-hued piece of elastic metal materialized before her.

Though no larger than a soccer ball, its sudden weight distorted the very fabric of space around it.

The two Supremes froze, their faces pale.

"Is that... Schedar?" one claimed.

"No... Schedar was never this dense," the other one answered.

The space seemed unable to contain the object, trembling under its immense gravitational force.

Even their psychokinesis, formidable as it was, recoiled against it, melting away like thin ice against molten lava.

Phelixes smirked as he watched their hesitation. "This is ’Eclipsite,’" he declared with quiet pride. "Lyra spent three years traveling across countless star systems, gathering rare materials and forging it under supernova-level heat. There’s nothing in this universe harder than this."

The Supremes exchanged a glance, then attacked together.

Lyra furrowed her brows as she molded the Eclipsite into a long blade.

With a single powerful swing, the sword’s edge sliced through the space itself, splitting the surrounding air and disintegrating the incoming lightning and fire.

The spatial tear rippled outward, and for a moment, the battlefield seemed frozen in stunned silence.

The two Supremes’ expressions twisted in alarm.

"Where is she?!" one of them shouted, panic creeping into his voice as they lost sight of her.

Before they could react, a sudden disturbance in the superpower particles behind them forced them to whirl around, readying their defenses.

But Lyra was faster. Her blade tore through their lightning barrier, cleaving into one of them with deadly precision.

Blood spattered the air as the Peculiar let out a choked cry, his left side nearly severed.

Lyra didn’t hesitate. She planted her foot on the ground, pivoted sharply, and hurled her blade with all her might.

The second Supreme, attempting to flee, turned and roared in desperation.

He conjured a fireball the size of a house, its searing heat melting the town’s structures and reducing unlucky bystanders to ash.

The ground turned to molten lava, and the air shimmered under the infernal blaze.

But the green-glowing blade pierced through the fireball with ease, its trajectory unyielding. It struck him square in the chest, drilling through his heart.

The Supreme collapsed, his body limp as the fireball extinguished.

Lyra retrieved the remaining Eclipsite, draping it over herself like armor. The residual heat from the fireball surged toward her, but she stood unmoving, unscathed by the inferno’s wrath.

The battlefield fell silent, the once-roaring tide of enemies now reduced to mere echoes of their failed assault.