Esper X Family – Chapter 660 – Space Artist

Gray Marsh didn’t think so.

He had always believed that, as long as he was in command of the expeditionary fleet, he was invincible!

He trusted the technological achievements of Watcher Civilization more than anyone else, and he trusted the upper limits of its military might even more.

The expeditionary fleet was born for the sole purpose of destroying all threats.

Even a world-destroying ability that had come to life would have to bow before him!

“It actually came to life? If it has life and consciousness, that just makes it easier to control, far more flexible than a dead, rigid set of rules. Heaven is on my side!” Gray Marsh was ecstatic.

The fleet’s energy reserves were still abundant, having consumed almost nothing in the face of those two humans’ attacks.

Even if their momentum waned in the end, they could always drain the energy of the solar system’s star as a wartime reserve.

As for the fate of human civilization, it no longer mattered.

As long as he could get his hands on “Xing Lan”, the entire Watcher Civilization would have to obey him. Even if someone objected to interfering with the survival of other civilizations, they would have no choice but to swallow their complaints.

Not even White Comet could stop him!

“Switch operational mode. Change from assault to capture. Weaken the target as much as possible, then find an opportunity to seize it!”

The warships’ devastating main cannons couldn’t be used.

He couldn’t risk a single shot reducing the target to ashes.

Although it wasn’t likely to be destroyed so easily, now that it had conveniently taken on a physical form, letting it revert to an incorporeal concept would only make things more troublesome.

The expeditionary fleet adjusted its attack levels based on the energy data it detected, ensuring that the assault wouldn’t be too intense and prevent the target from being taken alive.

As the fleet moved, the war fortresses continuously churned out a massive number of disposable aircraft.

This war had finally shifted from a purely violent spectacle to a far more fluid and ever-changing situation.

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Xing Lan showed no fear whatsoever.

The little wings on her head fluttered with faint excitement.

The corners of her mouth remained slightly raised, radiating unwavering confidence.

Her outfit seemed to be from the same series as Magical Girl Lullaby’s, simple yet divine. If she stood beside Lullaby, one would only assume that they were twin magical girls.

The most striking feature was undoubtedly those little wings that fluttered from time to time, practically begging someone to pluck her tiny feathers.

But if anyone thought she was that easy to bully, they couldn’t be more wrong!

Only Ye Yao could bully her without restraint. As for anyone else, they would only end up crushed beneath her feet!

Xing Lan looked at the fleet that was “giving birth” to countless small objects and let out a vague, ambiguous hum.

“Hmm? They’re actually making the first move? All those tiny little things, packed so densely… and here I thought they’d just fire a massive cannon at me. How boring.”

To be honest, Xing Lan had many ways to deal with the expeditionary fleet.

One of them was sheer numerical superiority.

The reason Lou Weiwei and Fu Qiqi had treated the enemy as an absurd monster was simply because their stats weren’t high enough.

If Xing Lan went all out, the expeditionary fleet would be nothing more than something to lick her boots.

In the face of overwhelming stats, all flashy mechanics were completely useless.

Now that Xing Lan shared her mental power with Ye Yao, she had at least a thousand points of “starting capital.”

If that still wasn’t enough, Xing Lan could also use “One Qi Transforms into Three Birds” just like Ye Yao. Three Xing Lans charging forward would shatter everything into fragments.

But that would be a bit boring.

Relying purely on numerical superiority was too cheap. There was no sense of skill in it.

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Under Ye Yao’s influence, even Xing Lan had come to value “technique” and “mind games” immensely. Without those, fighting held no joy!

She had to at least look like she had skill!

She would never settle for being a “wheelchair” character!

As Xing Lan watched the war fortresses continuously “give birth” to endless multi-purpose fighters, she couldn’t help but recall the time Ye Yao had tried to make her “lay eggs”.

That was just weird!

“Just what I wanted.”

Time to play a game!

If Attribute Fission was the most stat-reliant skill, then Myriad Things Fission was the most skill-based one!

At the very least, its visual effects were more tangible and made it look far more technical!

Now, with space providing the perfect battlefield, it was the ideal opportunity to show everyone her wheelcha— No, wait… her skill.

Xing Lan used【Precision】and【Suppression】to amplify her mental power to a certain level, then locked onto the sky-darkening swarm of multi-purpose fighters.

Using sheer numbers against her?

Absolutely laughable.

“Myriad Things Fission!”

Xing Lan’s command echoed like an incantation of cosmic law, silently exploding across the vacuum of space.

The moment the words “Myriad Things Fission” took shape in her consciousness, the very physical laws of the battlefield seemed to undergo a strange distortion.

The multi-purpose fighter ships that had been swarming out of the war fortresses suddenly froze in midair.

And then, the fission began.

It wasn’t simple replication, nor was it mirror-image proliferation.

The number of fighters expanded exponentially in three-dimensional space, exploding in a geometric cascade!

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There was no discernible principle behind it, nor any obvious way to counter it!

In just a single instant, the already considerable number of fighters had surpassed any intuitive human comprehension.

These fighters, as if copied and pasted, hung densely around Xing Lan like cosmic dust.

The girl with the fluttering little wings looked like the mothership of this entire armada!

“I’ve got so much skill! Mom, did you see that?”

The once-dark expanse of space had been utterly transformed.

The indicator lights on every fighter, from the azure energy indicators, the crimson weapon standby lights, to the emerald system operation lights… everything now converged into an indescribable ocean of light.

Looking up from the unlit side of Bluestar, the night sky that was once dotted only with stars had suddenly “come alive”.

“Wh-What is that…?”

On the global livestream, Sen Tong’s camera had zoomed out to its widest possible angle.

Across the entire near-Bluestar orbit region, from the lunar orbit to Bluestar’s geosynchronous orbit, over a million cubic kilometers of space was now packed with fighter ships.

Those flickering lights were no longer isolated points. They had merged into a flowing luminous tapestry, as if someone had taken countless fluorescent pens of every color and wildly scribbled across the black canvas of the universe!

Crimson and azure intertwined into spirals; emerald and silver collided into ripples; golden navigation lights strung together into glowing rivers that pierced across the field of view.

Watching this through the livestream, Jiang Huashen gasped sharply.

“So artistic! Using space as her canvas… I, Jiang Huashen, name you an artist! Inspiration! Inspiration is here!”

The ordinary viewers, however, were left utterly speechless by this mind-boggling spectacle.

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They felt the urge to exclaim, yet found themselves at a loss for words.

In the end, all they could do was blurt out instinctively:

“Holy crap!”

Ye Yao rubbed her chin and nodded with satisfaction.

“She’s grasped the essence. That’s more like it. See? Maxing out on technique is what truly embodies the bearing of a powerhouse.

But I’m obviously more skilled. Xing Lan still needs practice.”

At that moment, Xing Lan, positioned behind this tidal wave of light, finally moved.

She merely raised her right hand lightly.

That slender arm, so delicate it seemed it could snap with a single twist, was clad in a white silk glove identical to Lullaby’s, glowing softly under the fighter ships’ lights.

Then, she brought it down in a crisp, decisive motion.

Like a symphony conductor delivering the definitive final beat.

“Advance!”

Author Note

Yesterday, I almost got caught in a downpour and couldn’t get home while I was out writing. That darn weather forecast lied to me; I nearly got soaked to the bone!

Text: Master, what does this “nb ¹ As I explained a few times before, 区qu means “weak”. As for the upside down version, “nb” is short for 牛逼 niu bi (awesome). There’s another version with 区 (weakling) and 凶 (fierce). ” mean?