Ian stared at the pathetic, flimsy wall of flesh and quietly updated his evaluation of Terraria's bosses—they were definitely stronger than in the game, but still nothing special.
…Though to be fair, he and Zeke were both running cheat buffs so outrageous the original devs would cry.
"Zeke, let's sweep the whole map!" Ian waved grandly, full of imperial confidence.
Zeke rubbed his hands in excitement. "Got it!"
For the next few days, the two of them rampaged across Terraria like locusts, turning the entire world upside down.
Weapons, gear, materials—if it was worth looking at, they grabbed it.
Whenever they ran into an interesting monster, Ian would take out his precious figurine box and "invite" it inside, calling it "expanding his collection."
Sometimes, if he was in a good mood, he'd slap a few bosses around for fun.
Unknowingly, several days passed. Under bright sunshine, Ian held an exquisite glass jar containing a fluttering rainbow lacewing.
He and Zeke had already located every NPC in Terraria, collected most of the weapons, and defeated nearly every boss.
Every single NPC had already been teleported to Minecraft, where Chloe and Miss Witch Anna were taking care of them.
Tormented by the recent surge of monsters in Terraria, the NPCs were suffering terribly there. Now, arriving in a world with no mob spawning, their eyes shone with disbelief. They immediately refused to leave and all moved into the employee housing district Ian built.
Meanwhile, the two map-flattening maniacs encountered an unexpected roadblock on the very last step—after destroying the four pillars, the Moon Lord didn't appear.
Ian had no choice but to ask the Dryad. That was when he learned that this world required defeating every boss before the Moon Lord would awaken.
She even gave him a Boss Checklist.
After reading it, Ian realized that the Empress of Light counted as two bosses—one in the day, one at night.
Which led to the current situation.
Ian held the rainbow lacewing jar and glanced at Zeke, who was grinning like an idiot beside him. He smacked him.
"Quit smiling. We're about to fight a boss. This is the daytime Empress of Light. Have a little—just a tiny bit—of respect."
Once everything was ready, Ian opened the jar. The rainbow lacewing fluttered into the air, leaving a dazzling arc—
A beam of laser instantly vaporized it into ash drifting down from the sky.
In that moment, the world changed. The clear sky was painted in shifting colors. A woman in ornate robes, wearing a crown and spreading radiant butterfly wings appeared before them.
She was beautiful, majestic, and suffocatingly powerful.
"That's the Empress of Light?" Zeke's eyes widened as he unconsciously stepped back.
The Empress slowly opened her glowing rainbow eyes.
"Adventurers… so you have come this far."
"You knew we'd come?" Ian and Zeke were stunned.
"I did not know you would come. But I knew someone would."
Her voice was ethereal and emotionless.
"If you wish to save this world, you must face me. Though I do not desire conflict, I have no choice."
"I hope you will succeed. Break these tiresome rules."
"Come, adventurers. Fight with all your strength. I cannot hold back."
"And do not worry about my return—I will reappear."
Her gaze turned empty. Consciousness faded.
Then countless beams of light rained down like a storm, blasting craters into the ground, sending stone and dust flying.
But the two didn't dodge. They simply stood there and let the lasers wash over them.
"Fight with full strength? She's that bold?" Ian was dumbfounded. No one had ever requested to be nuked before.
With his current EMC, if he fired the Catalytic Lens at full capacity, the shockwave alone could probably wipe Terraria off the map.
"She probably didn't see the desert tiger behind us… or realize what armor we're wearing," Zeke muttered, glancing at the desert tiger he'd summoned and enhanced over thirty thousand times.
"For the Empress's dignity, you—and your pet—stay back. I'll handle her." Ian raised a hand, stopping him and the massive summoned desert tiger.
He lifted his left hand. EMC surged madly toward the Catalytic Lens.
The Lens glowed brighter and brighter as he poured all the EMC they'd earned during their conversation into it.
Then—A pillar of light colossal enough to swallow the horizon erupted upward. The entirety of Terraria looked like it had been shaved flat; everything within the beam's radius vanished outright.
Every cloud in the sky evaporated.
The Empress of Light was nowhere to be seen—only a treasure bag and a holy relic falling gently downward.
"That's it?! That's all?! How am I supposed to show respect for a fight like this?"
No time for mourning—loot opening came next.
Before that, Ian transmuted a huge pile of treasure bags, and the two of them opened them together.
A few minutes later, each held a Terraprisma with the "Ruthless" modifier, and began summoning.
Moments later, tens of thousands of rainbow swords circled around them—Terraria's Light-Pollution Sword Immortals had arrived.
Before they could admire them, the entire Terraria world suddenly began to quake violently.
"What's going on?" Zeke was confused.
"Probably the final boss."
The shaking lasted several minutes before a massive silhouette appeared in the sky.
It was a humanoid abomination with huge tentacles on its face and an aura of pure malice, its body composed of indescribable flesh.
"What… what the hell is that?!" Zeke's voice cracked.
"The Moon Lord?" Ian's eyes widened, a look of disbelief on his face. He remembered this guy looking quite cool in the game. Why was he so sanity-draining now?
This Moon Lord wasn't the in-game weakling. He had reclaimed the Eye of Cthulhu, Brain of Cthulhu, and every other piece—this was the full, eldritch Moon Lord.
Zeke repeated in terror, "What… what the heck is that thing?!" He shrank behind Ian, nearly dropping his Terraprisma.
"Come on, Zeke. You're pretty strong now." Ian patted his shoulder.
The Moon Lord roared, deafening and furious, swinging tentacles dripping with foul slime toward them.
"Go!" Ian sent tens of thousands of Terraprisma swords raining toward the Moon Lord like a storm.
Zeke inhaled deeply, forced down his fear, and joined in.
The sky filled with rainbow light.
The Moon Lord's flesh was instantly perforated with countless holes, spraying indescribably colored blood everywhere.
"I… I'm this strong?!" Zeke was dumbfounded. He expected a desperate fight, not a one-sided slaughter.
The Moon Lord howled in agony, flailing wildly. But Terraprisma swords were endless, auto-tracking, and clung to him like maggots on bone.
After several volleys, his massive body was riddled with wounds. Greenish blood flowed everywhere, filling the air with a nauseating stench.
"Is… is he actually about to die?" Zeke stared in disbelief.
"What else did you expect? Honestly, lasting this long is already impressive." Ian shrugged.
As they spoke, the Moon Lord froze. His gigantic body shriveled rapidly, as though drained of all moisture.
"He's… dead?" Zeke blinked. "That was way too easy. It felt like a joke."
Moon Lord: After countless years of planning and suffering, I finally reclaimed my ancient power. The war god has returned—this world will know agony.
Then I spawned… and ran into these two cheaters.
The fully awakened Moon Lord encountered the Terrarian Light-Pollution Sword Immortals and could not win even with all his strength.