Chapter 4051  Too Late

Of course, in the case of Gaia, the infection had gone perfectly, if not for the native species developing Paths that allowed them to fight back and eventually exterminate the virus. She was still largely 'pure,' and only the Panama Continent part of her was infected with esoteric matter, which Rui had neutralized and turned completely benign thanks to his antithesis cells spread across her body.

In the case of the Gargantia Hive, however, it appeared that the planet had been fully infected, but the damage done to the seed, through transit across the cosmos, perhaps, had caused no alien virus mind to develop; simply, the planet became more sentient and gained control over the powerful esoteric matter within its body.

Eventually, the planet gained the ability to reproduce. To gain the ability to implant its seed into other planets, terraforming them into its structure.

It broadly represented its own kind of species.

It represented the third major civilization that occupied the Milky Way Galaxy.

And yet, what truly made Rui feel a tinge of fear was the fact not the scale of these three civilizations.

No.

What truly made him feel horror was the fact that the map provided by the laminar integument showed their territory approaching dangerously close to the galactic neighborhood of Sol.

The outer peripheries of their interstellar domain touched Barnard's Star, Woodbridge 34, and Sirius. Each of them was a star that the Panamic Space Organization had sent Pioneer world-ships to.

Only in that moment did Rui realize what kind of danger they were in.

*****

Many light-years away near Barnard's Star, Pioneer III made its way across a foreign solar system with a single star. A large solar system with many exoplanets that revolved around their home star. It was a solar system that was filled with dust and gas, adding friction to the slow movements of Pioneer III.

"Conducting short-range scans."

"Defense systems active."

The ship commenced the routine scan of its immediate environment with a high-frequency electromagnetic radiation, allowing it to get a scan of any objects that could be in its vicinity.

They expected to find space debris. Lots of space rocks. Asteroids. Prior spectrographic scans of Barnard's Star and its solar system had revealed space dust that spread across the entire solar system. What they didn't expect, however, was the presence of organic matter.

Moving towards them.

At high speed.

"We have detected an anomaly," the slightly concerned voice of an analyst in the command room of the omni-ship drew the attention of the Admiral.

Admiral Lewenil, seated at a higher position overseeing the entire command room, frowned. "Report."

"We have detected anomalous objects moving towards us at a high speed." Her tone contained more concern and urgency. "According to preliminary spectrographic analysis, their composition is organic in nature."

Admiral Lewenil stood up as he opened the data that the analyst transmitted to him.

His eyes widened.

"…Octopi?"

Before he could even comprehend what he was looking at, the octopi projectiles accelerated at the very final stretch, striking the omni-ship in the blink of an eye with a heavy collision.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!

The sheer force with which the collisions blasted the omni-ship, spreading tremors across the entire ship.

RUMBLE

The command room quivered uncertainly as the lights flickered.

"Energy shield struck!"

"Suspected energy shield breach at Segment A62-1156!"

"Outer hull confirmed to be intact!"

"Sir!" The Director of the Analytics Department. "We have been struck by what appears to be living creatures that resemble our native octopus species! Even as we speak, they are gnawing away at our defensive shields, eroding away at their integrity!"

The admiral's expression grew grim. "Strengthen the shield output to maximum! Deploy all short-range counter-offensive systems! I hereby declare a state of emergency! Have all personnel remain on standby!"

RUMBLE

Pioneer III quivered as the sirens in the command room and across the entire omni-ship went off as the ceiling lights grew redder, indicating a state of emergency. On the outer surface of the omni-ship, several hatches opened, allowing a large number of small and mid-sized guns, rifles, and lasers to emerge.

Because these were short-range counter-offensive measures meant to target that were extremely close to the ship, they couldn't have a high destructive power, lest they harm the very omni-ship they were supposed to protect.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

They trained on the alien creatures, unleashing an onslaught of bullets, lasers, and plasma beams.

The attacks struck the black exteriors of the astralites. WHOOSH

They disappeared.

As if the attacks didn't even exist. The creatures unfurled their mighty tentacles, driving them into the energy shields of the omni-ship, grinding away at the shields. The shields themselves were composed of a hot plasma interacting with powerful short-range electromagnetic fields that made the plasma arrange in the form of a shield. The advantage of this form of defense was that it was scalable with energy expenditure.

The disadvantage was that it drained energy and couldn't be sustained.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!

The powerful astralite aliens ravaged the energy shields of the omni-ship, tearing them apart at an alarming rate, ripping off shining shreds of plasma that darkened as they were flung away. "Sir! The energy shields are being destroyed faster than they can be restored!" the Director of Defense urgently told the admiral with a grave expression. "Our short-range ballistics are not harming the hostile infiltrators! We must deploy additional measures immediately."

Admiral Lewenil's expression grew grim.

There was only one option.

"Deploy the Martial Artists."

Seconds later, several more hatches from the omni-ship erupted, deploying several small, and diminutive combat units.

And yet, their power was extraordinary.

"ATTACK!" Sage Nathan, of the Virodhabhasa Theocracy, roared, leading a charge of Martial Sages each having adopted exo-Martial suits clad with invintium and other esoteric matter.

They were designed to allow Martial Sages to bring out as much of their Martial power in the radically different environment of space.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!!!!

The Martial Artists of Panama clashed with the astralites to protect Pioneer III from the assaulting alien force.