Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 347: Moving the Stars

Chapter 347: Moving the Stars

The Stellar Devourers remained humanity’s most immediate and devastating threat, and no matter what followed, they had to be eradicated.

This was humanity’s largest war in recorded history.

Soldiers fought relentlessly, pouring every ounce of their strength into the battle.

Lyra’s old comrades, veterans who had stood by her side in countless skirmishes, fought valiantly to protect the fragile planet that had become their last sanctuary.

As more Stellar Devourers fell, the green energy around Lyra grew denser.

Each time she recharged the weapons under her command, their energy became more concentrated, their attacks more devastating.

When she finally sliced through Westros’ armor with a single strike, his pupils narrowed in shock.

The more Stellar Devourers Lyra destroyed, the more powerful she became.

"Where is Phelixes?" she demanded.

"He’s completely lost consciousness!" Westros’ expression twisted with desperation before a flicker of wild resolve sparked in his eyes.

Without hesitation, he gave a chilling order:

"Release him!"

If they didn’t use their final trump card now, there wouldn’t be another chance.

...

As the battle continued, the black hole began to tremble. Like the calm before a storm, it suddenly expanded, its gaping maw stretching impossibly wide.

Caught off guard, many soldiers were sucked into its depths.

The black hole’s gravitational pull intensified, warping space itself. Stray attacks intended for the Stellar Devourers veered off course and vanished into the void.

"Fall back!" Frederick ordered sharply.

But for many, it was already too late. Even at full power, their ships and mechas couldn’t resist the pull.

With grim determination, Frederick unleashed his full superpower, ascending to the level of a Supreme Peculiar.

Using Elden Prime as his anchor, he generated a gravitational shield strong enough to allow the remaining soldiers to escape the black hole’s grasp.

Even so, the void’s relentless pull persisted. Each passing moment brought Elden Prime closer to its destruction. Humanity’s time was running out.

...

A beam of black energy erupted from the black hole’s center.

A suffocating wave of powerlessness swept over the Alliance forces. It felt like being trapped in a nightmare—minds screaming in panic while bodies refused to move.

Superpowers drained rapidly.

Nearby celestial bodies, including Elden Prime, trembled violently under the black hole’s overwhelming force.

This was no ordinary foe—it was a wall humanity couldn’t scale, a chasm they couldn’t bridge.

Even Lyra faltered. Gritting her teeth, she conjured twenty glowing shields, each a hundred meters across, to shield herself.

The figure emerging from the black hole shattered them all with a single effortless motion.

He advanced through the void until he stood before Lyra.

...

Just being near the figure drained Lyra’s remaining superpower. Summoning the last of her strength, she lashed out with her blade, its green aura blazing brilliantly.

The weapon struck the shadowy figure’s body—but passed through it as if it had hit nothing but air.

At this moment, Phelixes had become one with the black hole.

With a flick of his hand, he sent Lyra hurtling backward. She slammed into an asteroid, shattering it into fragments.

Her dragon rushed to catch her, preventing her from drifting further into the void.

Phelixes roared again, and his form trembled violently.

From his core, spatial cracks spread outward, first hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of meters wide.

From afar, the fractures looked like mere slivers. Up close, they were abyssal maws, devouring everything in their path. The faintest disturbance erased entire fleets and tens of thousands of soldiers in an instant.

"That’s... the black hole incarnate?" an old commander murmured, his voice shaking with disbelief. Even the most battle-hardened veterans were gripped by hopelessness.

One clash, and even Lyra had been overwhelmed.

In unison, all of Lyra’s weapons turned toward Phelixes and unleashed a barrage of concentrated firepower.

A radiant green light engulfed him, but within moments, the energy was absorbed, consumed by the black hole’s pull.

The Alliance forces, already in retreat, hastened their withdrawal.

...

On the surface of Elden Prime, evacuation orders had been issued. Civilians flooded spaceports, scrambling to escape the planet’s impending doom.

The loss of their home was a crushing weight on everyone. Grief and fear intertwined as they faced the harsh reality of exile, uncertain of what lay ahead.

Lyra coughed weakly, her breath shallow but unyielding, as she fired her weapons at Phelixes.

With a fierce resolve, she hurled herself into a swarm of Stellar Devourers, her blade gleaming like liquid light as it tore through them.

More strength was what she needed—and to achieve that, more Stellar Devourers had to die.

Her eyes burned with relentless determination. Surrounded on all sides, she swung her blade in a 360-degree arc, carving through the encirclement with a whirlwind of precision and destruction.

With each enemy she felled, the light radiating from her weapons grew brighter, sharper, more potent.

Realizing her intent, Westros’ face twisted in horror. "Stop the slaughter! Focus on the Alliance forces instead!"

The Stellar Devourers scrambled to open interdimensional escape portals, desperate to shift their focus—but before they could act, the pathways were sealed shut by Lyra’s sheer will.

"Not yet!" she roared, her voice like a clarion call through the chaos.

A sudden and brutal strike from behind slammed into her, scattering the light emanating from her body.

Lyra was sent hurtling through the void, blood splattered across her mecha, her expression contorted in pain.

Even so, glowing tendrils erupted from her, reaping more Stellar Devourers in waves of destruction.

She was close—so close. Just a little more strength.

Ignoring the burning pain tearing through her body, Lyra pressed forward, her mind singularly focused on annihilation.

Phelixes’ attacks were a distant concern; survival was the only thing that mattered. Her blade never ceased its deadly dance, harvesting the enemy without pause.

Her superpower surged again, rippling outward with ferocious intensity.

...

Watching her unrelenting assault, Westros clenched his fists, his desperation palpable.

Finally, with a snarl, he lunged at her.

Lyra reacted instantly, her blade piercing him cleanly. Yet Westros did not falter. Clinging to her with unyielding force, his body cracked and fractured under the immense strain, crumbling like brittle clay.

He was dragging her toward the black hole.

Understanding his intent, Lyra channeled every remaining ounce of her strength into her blade, driving it deeper into Westros.

With a silent scream, his form splintered and dissolved, fragments of him merging with the black hole, pulling Lyra closer to its consuming maw.

Faced with no other choice, Lyra drew a deep, shuddering breath. Her Crystal Core, buried in her chest, pulsed violently, radiating an intense green light.

Just as the void seemed poised to claim her, eight radiant beams of energy pierced the darkness, striking the black hole and scattering Westros’ lingering force.

The weapons were unmistakable. Lyra’s eyes flickered with recognition—they were from her mecha designs, ones she had worked on with Koros.

Surprise briefly crossed her face before it hardened into determination. With a fierce cry, she redoubled her efforts, carving through the Stellar Devourers as she slowly retreated toward Elden Prime’s atmosphere.

From a distance, her allies—old comrades who had fought beside her for years—offered steadfast support.

Zinnia and others laid down precise covering fire, neutralizing any threats attempting to ambush her.

Together, they fought step by step, steadily withdrawing until they finally breached Elden Prime’s atmosphere.

Above them, the black hole loomed, fully visible to the planet’s inhabitants.

Its shadow enveloped the world, plunging it into darkness.

Light began to vanish, swallowed by the black hole’s voracious pull. Air rushed away in torrents as the planet’s surface fractured under immense gravitational pressure.

Bodies, buildings, and debris spiraled upward, disappearing into the void’s gaping maw.

Westros’s disembodied laughter rang out, harsh and triumphant. "We’ve transcended your feeble rules! This is the end!"

Amid the destruction, the vibrant, sprawling world of Elden Prime was reduced to a fragment—a mere morsel for the abyss.

Lyra, her sword lowered, stood motionless for a moment.

Then came a ripple of power, emanating from her very core.

She stepped out of her damaged mecha, green light pouring from her body in waves. The brilliance expanded rapidly, outshining even the black hole’s consuming darkness.

The light swelled until she resembled a celestial body, a radiant dawn-star that held the encroaching void at bay.

The energy coursing through her reached a crescendo.

Lyra’s superpower, now unrestrained, granted her dominion over not just weapons but the very fabric of the cosmos itself.

Her eyes snapped open, blazing with a sharp, otherworldly brilliance.

Though her form was mortal, fragile, she now possessed the power to shift planets and command the stars themselves.

She raised a single finger, her gaze locked on the Stellar Devourers, who recoiled in terror.

A spiraling green beam erupted from her fingertip, ascending skyward.

The energy coiled and expanded as it enveloped the black hole. Its monstrous form compressed, shrinking visibly under the pressure of her will.