The Martial Unity

Chapter 3977: An Awaiting Destiny

The laminar integument stirred, floating in outer space in a gentle manner as a surge of light activity seemed to illuminate its body even more brightly. The blood-red suns within the depths of his eyes remained focused on the laminar integument. From his sensibilities of how life behaved in Gaia, he might have been tempted to think that the laminar integument was simply ignoring him. But he knew that every thought was communication, meaning he simply needed to peer into its body and interpret the light that flickered within its transparent, colorful depths.

And that was what he did. He paid attention to every signal, every flickering light, corresponding it with the movements and the light that it perceived, learning to map its light activities with actions and images.

He was able to detect a response.

His translation was messy and noisy, but he was able to barely understand the gist of what the laminar integument was communicating to him.

”We. Come. Destroy. Infected. World.”

It was an ominous statement.

The words were devoid of ʼtoneʼ for he was barely able to understand the actual messages themselves, let alone the tone with which they were communicated. It simply hovered in space mysteriously, illuminated by the internal network of light that comprised its photonic consciousness.

More importantly, it was the words that drew his attention.

The blood-red suns within the depths of his eyes sharpened as he realized that his suspicions had been on point. This creature was not a thrall of the alien virus that had been summoned by the death throes of the alien virus within the planet of Gaia.

Instead, it had come to destroy the alien virus. If that was the case, then they had no reason to fight. Rui quickly conveyed to the laminar integument exactly that.

”We have already destroyed the virus.”

It wasnʼt easy to communicate each of those words, especially virus, but here simply used a sequence of images to convey the meaning of his words on top of the flickering light signals in his eyes.

It didnʼt appear, however, as the laminar integument was particularly moved by his answer. The depths of its bodies lit up once more in a surge of activity, as if experiencing a surge of emotion and thought.

”We. Thought. Same.”

Its words were chilling.

The color of the network of light within its body changed, growing more somber. He could see its emotion.

”We. Thought. Same. Destroyed. Deep. Biosphere. Destroyed. Virus. But. Nothing. Changed.”

He began to understand its photonic communication-cognition much better, interpreting its light signals more accurately. The intensity of the light waves and pulses comprising its photonic consciousness heightened. ”Outcome. Unchanged.”

Chills crawled across Ruiʼs skin as the Fear he felt intensified.

Rui felt a surge of uncomfortable electric tingling in his heart as the organ began pounding against his ribcage harder and harder.

The truth had dawned on him the moment the virus threw all of its power and efforts into sending ripples through the very fabric of the information dimension. The truth had dawned on him the moment the Fear remained as intense as ever, even upon the destruction of the virus.

The moment he had realized that this went deeper than he had expected.

Even as he gazed into the translucent depths of the colorful jellyfish-like entity, it conveyed the truth to him in complex photonic thought.

”Before. We. Destroyed. Virus. Virus. Send. Message.” The laminal integument continued with a flux of light signals. ”Virus. Sent. Broadcast.”

The light within its body grew red.

”Sent. Call. For. Help.”

The light within its body grew even more intense, shining with greater intensity.

”Call. For. Help. Across. Galaxy. Across. Cosmos.”

The light emerging from within the laminar integument darkened.

”Outcome. Exceed. Expectation.”

Ruiʼs expression grew more grim.

”Unending. Siege. Interstellar. Siege. Alien. Monster. Unending. Unending. Unending.”

The laminar integument went beyond conveying light signals, projecting an image from within the depths of its body midair using constructive superposition.

It displayed a memory of the laminar integument.

Its perception of the world was different from his.

It perceived light from all directions, but only light.

Thus, the video was devoid of any sound.

It featured an exotic, gigantic world that was even bigger than Gaia, with a vast oceanic surface. The water was a light turquoise, giving the planet a very distinctive color. It appeared to be in constant flux as ripples, shifts, and changes constantly fluxed across its entire surface.

But that was not what drew his attention.

What drew his attention was the siege of what appeared to be… monsters.

What appeared to be alien monsters.

They emerged from wormholes across the entire solar system, swarming the entire world across outer space in large tides. They were diverse.

Some were shaped like octopi.

Others like whales.

There were those that were shaped like avian life forms, flapping what appeared to be wings clad with exotic matter that seemed to flap against the very fabric of space and time.

They were resisted by the laminar space force and the laminar integuments in a great conflict in outer space as titanic explosions, laser blasts, and collisions unfolded in outer space.

But eventually, they were overwhelmed. They were overwhelmed as the onslaught of alien monsters routed their defenses in outer space, before performing an inexplicable action.

The monsters threw themselves into the depths of the laminar integumentʼs homeworld. They entered the atmosphere as living meteorites, blasting into the planet with a devastatingly intense impact.

It was suicidal. But the organic and esoteric matter they planted into the home world of the laminar integuments re-seeded the alien virus within the planet.

It restarted the clock on the deadline.

The laminar integuments struggled as they could, trying to push back.

And yet, it was in vain.

The planet exploded as it was always meant to. A chilling, macabre realization dawned on him.

As if the laminar integument wanted him to understand the sheer futility of even trying to resist the inevitable outcome.

The destiny that it believed awaited them.