Phantylia the Lord Ravager of Destruction, was currently in a very bad mood.
Back in the day, she had rampaged across the cosmos, plunging more than a hundred worlds into chaos before they were ultimately destroyed by the Antimatter Legion.
At the mere mention of a Lord Ravager, mortals would tremble in fear. Her infamous name resounded across the universe, enough to silence a crying child in the night.
Even ordinary Emanators were beneath her notice. No matter how brilliant their minds were, how could they compare to the sheer purity of Destruction itself?
And yet now, she was locked inside a birdcage, hung within a Delve of the Xianzhou and put on display for public viewing.
"Wow—"
She and the birdcage were suspended from a mechanical arm, surrounded by a circle of curious onlookers.
"Are you thirsty? Hungry? Want something to eat?"
Yukikaze leaned forward and asked.
"No."
Phantylia felt like a pet bird being exhibited.
"You've been locked up for two days already. Just have a bite?"
The little shipgirl pulled out two torpedo tempura and stuffed them inside, then sent in a cup of coolant as well.
"Come on, come on, Phantylia, be good. Try some?"
"!!!"
Phantylia flew into a rage.
She grabbed the two battered torpedoes and tried to throw them out.
But the force field inside the cage allowed things in, not out.
The instant they collided with the barrier—
Boom!!—
A muffled explosion echoed within the cage, smoke billowing everywhere.
Phantylia was left dizzy and disoriented.
"If you don't want it, then fine. Why are you throwing food around?!"
Yukikaze and the other little shipgirls smacked their lips.
"You!!!"
The flames flickered violently several times.
The damage was minimal. The humiliation was immense.
The more she looked at these shipgirls, the more abnormal they seemed. Not only were they monstrously strong, they could also casually pull out all sorts of bizarre miniature weapons.
Since when could normal people eat torpedoes?! And they even deep-fried them into tempura.
They were clearly entertaining themselves at her expense.
Bang bang bang—
Herta knocked on the birdcage.
"Come on, Phantylia. Please release some Destruction energy. We need it."
"In your dreams. Insolence!"
The flames inside the cage flickered once and ignored her.
A dignified Lord Ravager reduced to research material and a source of amusement—an unparalleled humiliation.
Phantylia continued praying to Nanook, begging the Aeon of Destruction to cast Their gaze upon her or descend divine punishment, wiping out these people and the Xianzhou together.
But Nanook did not respond.
"Ah, if you're unwilling, then I'll just extract it myself."
Herta inserted a strangely shaped device into the cage.
At the same time, she confirmed something with Grey.
"We don't need to follow any prisoner-of-war conventions when dealing with a Lord Ravager, right?"
"We don't have those."
Hummm—
"Aaaahhh—"
The machine emitted a deep hum. Phantylia felt as if she had fallen into a black hole, her power being torn away from her body.
Even without a physical form, she could still be tortured like this?! What an eye-opener.
Her true body—the cluster of flames—flickered like a candle in a storm.
"!"
She began offering Herta and Grey "warm greetings" in various dialects she had learned across different worlds.
Smack!
Herta responded by increasing the output.
Hummm...
After the machine stopped, Herta performed calculations on her holographic interface.
Before long, she returned and knocked on the birdcage again.
"Phantylia, I need to analyze the composition of a heliobus. Separate out a portion of your energy."
"..."
Unable to provoke her, Phantylia simply pretended to be dead.
"Silence means consent?"
"Are you going to do it yourself, or shall we extract it?"
Grey asked.
"???"
Phantylia suspected this woman might be some wild Lord Ravager herself, whose aesthetic of Destruction was built upon tormenting others.
"You guessed right. A while ago, Nanook invited me to become Their dog. I declined."
"Want to talk?"
Grey poured out a mass of nanocloud from a container.
It was precisely the portion Phantylia had previously discarded and separated.
"That is!!!"
Phantylia froze instantly.
Within that gray nanocloud surged dense Destruction energy.
As a Lord Ravager, she recognized it immediately—that was Nanook's personal blessing, the mark of being elevated into a Lord Ravager.
"How do you possess that power?! No, you're not a Lord Ravager?!"
She slammed left and right within the cage, trying to see more clearly.
Phantylia could not comprehend why that power had been separated.
"Please. Comparing me to a Lord Ravager is an insult."
"I didn't want Their damn blessing. That's all."
Grey shrugged.
"Your slogans and titles sound impressive, but in reality you're ridiculously weak."
She began counting on her fingers for Phantylia.
"You spent over six hundred years destroying just a bit more than a hundred worlds, right? So what, one every four or five years on average? Could your efficiency be any lower?"
"And your colleague Zephyro—he boasts about being an army unto himself, doesn't he? I checked his record. Setting suns ablaze, drilling through planetary crusts to destroy star systems... that's it? Pretty mediocre."
"???"
"What exactly have you done?!"
It was the first time Phantylia had ever encountered someone mocking her great enterprise.
In the past, others had condemned the Lords Ravager for cruelty and inhumanity, accusing them of the savage destruction of worlds and planets.
But in the Starsea Empire, she was being ridiculed for her professional competence instead.
"Because you're weak, we destroyed the Interastral Peace Corporation."
Grey answered succinctly.
"Pier Point was cleansed by my Neutron Sweep. Not a single living organism was left. It took half a day. Efficient enough?"
Swish—
She projected the scene of the neutron cleansing.
Phantylia stared blankly.
The neutron flux had annihilated every living being on the planet. That ultimate, hyper-efficient aesthetic of destruction was beyond words.
"Those shattered stars in the IPC border sectors? That was us too. Oh, and the Starsea Fleet operates far faster than you ever did."
"Once within strike range, a single Photoid won't take more than twenty minutes to completely destroy a star."
"Ah..."
"Oh, and Oswaldo and the IPC high command's fleets are hanging up there in the sky right now. If you're free someday, I can carry you over for a tour."
"The scale? A few thousand light-years or so."
"!!!"
Even though Phantylia preferred to destroy her enemies through schemes and manipulation, she had to admit that the Starsea Empire's level of destruction was several tiers above that of the Lords Ravager.
Whether it was directly shattering stars, cleansing planets, or launching dimensional reduction strikes across entire stretches of starry sky, there was an overwhelmingly shocking aesthetic of destruction to it.
No wonder Nanook remained indifferent to her suffering.
So Nanook valued this nanorobot more than her?!
Even if the other party showed absolutely no respect toward Them, capability was what truly mattered. Even if all the Lords Ravager were tied together, they still wouldn't measure up to her.
"..."
Phantylia's composure shattered for the third time.
She had tried to ambush Tingyun and failed, getting beaten up instead. Depressing.
She had been locked in a cage by the Starsea Empire, displayed and researched. Even more depressing.
And now, she discovered that even the grand enterprise of destruction she took pride in had been crushed to nothing by the Starsea Empire. The most depressing of all.
From personal strength to existential value, she had been struck from every angle without a single blind spot.
"So what exactly do you want?"
She swayed slightly inside the birdcage.
"We plan to drag Nanook down, and while we're at it, research the power of Destruction. If you cooperate obediently, we might even improve your treatment a bit."
"Huh?"
Phantylia froze.
"If you're going to practice the Path of Destruction to its extreme, then aside from destroying civilizations, star systems, and galaxies, shouldn't you destroy something even more thrilling?"
Grey asked.
"For example, destroying the Aeon of Destruction. Wouldn't that be interesting?"
"???"
The Lord Ravager felt that this nanorobot might be a little too extreme.
"I know what you're after. You want a body that endures forever, one that cannot be destroyed, right?"
"So you planned to deal with Tingyun first, infiltrate the Xianzhou using her identity, seize the power of the Ambrosial Arbor, and then bide your time before setting your sights on the Starsea Empire."
Grey leisurely laid out Phantylia's scheme.
"Actually, crafting a body isn't difficult for us. Immortality isn't anything remarkable in the Starsea Empire."
"If you obediently become my—oh no, the Commander's little fuzzy ball, then maybe one day, if he's in a good mood, he'll grant you a body."
"!!!"
An undying, indestructible body!
Phantylia was half skeptical, half tempted. Trapped inside the birdcage, she could only listen.
"However..."
The nanorobot changed her tone.
"If you still intend to cause trouble, we'll have to use other methods."
"Like what?"
"For example, sending you to the Underworld and having Ereshkigal suppress you in the depths of hell for tens of millions of years. Or hanging you in the plazas of Pier Point and the Xianzhou Luofu, building an observation deck for public display."
"Lord Ravager Phantylia. Admission three thousand Credit Points. Photo eight thousand. Paid feeding also available. I'm sure plenty of people would be interested in an Emanator of Destruction. It could generate a considerable amount of revenue, even though we don't really need money."
"When there's time, we could even take you on tour to places like the Xianzhou Yaoqing or Xianzhou Zhuming, spreading your heroic bearing across the universe."
"Hah?!"
Phantylia despaired at Grey's complete lack of moral restraint.
If she were truly hung up for exhibition, she would rather be granted a swift death.
"So what's your decision, Miss Phantylia?..."
Grey asked with a smiling expression.
"..."
Phantylia fell silent for a moment, torn by inner conflict.
Obviously, refusing the conditions would bring her nothing good. In theory, she had two choices. In reality, she had none.
"...May I ask one more question?"
"Go ahead."
"What does 'little fuzzy ball' mean?"
"...Don't worry about it."