Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 327: A Stellar Devourer

Chapter 327: A Stellar Devourer

At the border between Alliance and Empire territories, pitch-black holes spread across the vast void of space, making the universe look like a tattered and broken tapestry.

From within the darkness, Stellar Devourers emerged in waves, surging straight for Lyra, who stood surrounded in the center.

At the same time, a brilliant emerald glow burst forth, sealing off the power that the Stellar Devourers had always prided themselves on.

Lyra’s blade moved so quickly it left only afterimages, effortlessly harvesting the lives of the monstrous beings. She grew faster, her strikes sharper, her power surging to greater heights.

Standing behind his army, Westros grew restless. "What is going on? It’s been an hour, and her superpower shows no signs of weakening!"

He clenched his hands tighter as he watched the unstoppable figure of the woman in the distance.

Beside him, Iskandor spoke calmly. "I’ll assist."

The moment he moved, Phelixes—who had been waiting in the launch bay—entered his mecha.

"Wait!" Cohen stepped forward to stop him. "With your strength, you’ll just be throwing your life away."

Cohen knew that entering this battle would mean certain death.

Phelixes shook his head. "I promised HER I would always stand by her side."

Even if it meant dying, he would not regret it.

Without another word, he closed the cockpit, engaged the launch rails, and shot out into space.

Cohen pressed his lips together tightly, then turned on his heel and strode out of the launch bay. "Order the fleet to advance at full speed."

Kogar followed him and asked, "Aren’t we waiting for Rear Admiral Shedd?"

"She’ll catch up," Cohen replied as he returned to the command room. Watching the satellite feed of the battle unfolding behind them, he clenched his fists. "If there’s danger, she can escape faster than any of us. Besides, we can’t risk the Legion of Flaring Stars for her alone."

Even though he wasn’t sure what tricks the Empire had up their sleeves, leaving Lyra surrounded while the fleet escaped was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

That woman was always walking on the edge of death, but she never failed to hold onto her survival instincts.

Kogar was taken aback. He knew better than anyone how Cohen felt about Lyra, yet here he was, choosing to leave without hesitation.

After experiencing the loss of his younger brother, Cohen had learned to stay calm in any situation.

Looking at the commanding figure of his superior, Kogar silently felt relieved. Thank goodness my commander isn’t a love-struck fool.

...

Left behind, Lyra continued to fight.

Technically, it wasn’t a fight—it was a one-sided slaughter of Stellar Devourers.

Iskandor hovered at the edges of the battlefield, subtly interfering.

"Break!" This time, unlike his usual calm commands, his tone carried more weight, and the resulting attack was far more powerful.

Phelixes, piloting his mecha, flew alongside Lyra. Each time he heard the voice in his mind, he pushed his superpower to counter the enemy’s forces.

But the strain was immense. Blood began to seep from his eyes, nose, and even his ears. His vision blurred, and he shook his head repeatedly to stay awake, sensing something stirring deep within his body.

"Stop!" He gritted his teeth and pushed his power again, but this time, everything went black. His superpower faltered.

"Damn it!" Lyra’s body froze for a split second. In that moment, countless black holes rushed toward her, ready to tear her apart.

A Stellar Devourer charged at Phelixes, his attack slicing him cleanly in two.

At the exact moment of his injury, a black vortex expanded from Phelixes’ body, swallowing the nearby black holes.

The vortex’s pull was irresistible. Nearby mechas and fighters were sucked in instantly, vanishing without a trace.

Even the Stellar Devourers couldn’t escape—black energy seeped from their bodies, drawn back into the growing void.

And then, within mere moments, Phelixes—whose body had been severed—restored himself as if nothing had happened.

His true identity was undeniable.

Phelixes was a Stellar Devourer.

Iskandor retreated far back, his brows furrowing deeply. "Has it already begun?"

Westros’ reaction was completely different. He threw his head back and laughed wildly. "Hahaha, it’s happening—it’s finally happening!"

On the Legion of Flaring Stars flagship, Cohen stepped closer to the screen, his wide eyes full of disbelief. "Phelixes... how could he be a Stellar Devourer?"

After a brief silence, Kogar sighed heavily. "That explains his unusual superpower."

The ability to neutralize any superpower—that was essentially the very nature of a Stellar Devourer’s black holes.

What puzzled them was that, during his time as a cadet and soldier, Phelixes must have undergone countless medical examinations. By all accounts, he had been entirely human.

Through the transparent shield of her helmet, Lyra’s expression darkened. Her gaze fixed on the young man at the center of the vortex. Her body, glowing with emerald light, surged forward in an attempt to pull him out.

She could suppress this power, yet she couldn’t remove him from the vortex. It was as though the vortex was part of him; wherever he moved, it moved with him.

"Sis, you should leave..." Phelixes’s voice was weak as the black vortex began to swallow him. "I’ve been running from it for so long, but it finally caught me."

Lyra released him, floating silently in front of him. "What’s going on?"

"I... am the embodiment of THE Black Hole," Phelixes said with great difficulty.

When the Stellar Devourers first appeared, so too did he, manifesting as part of the same cosmic rules.

He had chosen a human form, but his nature remained—an instinctive urge to devour everything: planets, humans, entire systems.

From the moment Westros discovered him, orchestrating his capture by the Seething Fires space pirates, to his "rescue" by the Alliance military, it had all been part of the Empire’s conspiracy.

Suddenly, Lyra understood. That sense of deep repulsion she had always felt from Phelixes, coupled with his inexplicable closeness to her—it all made sense.

They were two sides of the same coin, both embodiments of universal laws. They existed together, bound by forces greater than themselves: creation and destruction, inseparable yet contradictory.

"Leave, before I step into Alliance territory!" Phelixes’s eyes turned completely black as he struggled to suppress his own instincts.

With his presence, the Stellar Devourers’ power surged dramatically.

Worse, they were now regenerating faster than ever.

Lyra could feel Phelixes’ power climbing rapidly—surpassing level-nine, ascending toward Supreme.

"Sis, please—go!" he begged, his voice tight with desperation as the black vortex stretched like massive hands, wrapping around his head and limbs.

Lyra looked at him one last time before activating her light mecha, turning and escaping.

"After her!" Westros roared impatiently. "We must take her down this time!"

As Lyra sped toward the Legion of Flaring Stars, she slashed through the Stellar Devourers that pursued her.

Her blade gleamed like a streak of emerald lightning. She pierced the head of one Stellar Devourer, then kicked off his body, spinning midair to cleave another in two.

A faint green glow shone persistently in the black-hole-infested void, refusing to be swallowed.

"What... what is going on?"

Westros’ excitement didn’t even last half an hour. Soon, he was stunned into silence by Lyra’s increasingly powerful attacks and movements.

"Why is her power still growing?"

Her slender figure seemed like an endless spring, a constant flow of energy surging stronger and stronger with every passing moment.

Suddenly, Lyra swung her blade, sending a thousand-meter-long green arc slicing through space. Even nearby celestial bodies trembled from the force of her strike.

"I’ve found it," Lyra whispered softly to herself.

The stars and meteors around her began to sing, countless streams of emerald light converging upon her.

She was ascending—evolving.

In that moment, Westros’ face paled drastically. "No... this can’t be happening."