World Keeper

Chapter 620: The Heart of a Star

Tsubaki stood in front of James’s research facility, glancing towards her back briefly. In order to ensure her ‘safety’, she had foregone the nine tails that she typically took such great pride in, instead appearing with the single natural tail of the kitsune. Mustering her determination, she strode forward, knocking heavily on the door.

It didn’t take long before the door opened, and she saw Chelsea standing there looking up at her. The sight of the nine tails swaying behind the girl’s back caused a shiver to run along Tsubaki’s spine. Thankfully, it was the girl that had spoken up first. “Tsubaki, right? Is there something that we can do for you?”

Brought back to her senses, Tsubaki gave a firm nod. “I need to speak with James urgently. There’s a situation in one of our worlds that I believe requires his immediate attention.”

Chelsea blinked, but nodded her head and allowed Tsubaki to enter. “Hey, James! You got company! Meeting room’s open!”

The dark-skinned man looked up from his research table, where he was clearly working on some large project. When he saw Tsubaki, and noticed the single tail behind her, a look of disappointment appeared on his face. “Alright.” He agreed, walking past the other researchers and moving towards a doorway on the far side of the lab.

Once inside the room, Tsubaki saw that it was a simple conference room, with one large table surrounded by numerous chairs. “So, what is it that has even you coming here?” James asked as he casually sat at one of the several chairs.

“The Metong have issued an emergency request for aid. Something has been devouring their solar systems, and they have thus far confirmed a total of over two-hundred stars being destroyed ahead of their time.” Tsubaki quickly relayed the information that had been shared with her from the AI that Blank had assigned to help her with such matters.

“Two hundred, huh?” James muttered, rubbing his chin. “Alright, I’ll go take a look with you. Have you prepared any special equipment or such in the event of an emergency?”

Tsubaki furrowed her brow. “I have a large arsenal of abilities at my disposal, including numerous immensely powerful spells. Should a problem arise that requires the use of force, I should be capable of handling myself. What I require you for is your expertise as a former Keeper, so that you can identify any traces that I would not think to notice.”

James let out a low sigh. “You think that’s so? Let me tell you… if there is something that we have to fight out there, you might not even be able to run away.”

Tsubaki blinked, before her face twisted as if she had just been insulted. Yet, James did not stop there. “You pride yourself on your speed because you are the Goddess of Light, right? Well, I’m sorry to say this, but in the grand scope of space, that domain limits your speed quite a lot. If we’re dealing with an entity that has the ability to destroy numerous stars in a short period, that means that they can move at least a thousand times faster than the speed of light. Compared to them, you might as well not be moving at all.”

“If we run into problems, don’t even think about using your domain to escape. Unless you are able to enter FTL, the only way out would be a hastily erected dimensional shift or long-distance teleport. That’s why I asked if you had anything special prepared.”

Tsubaki was initially stunned by the revelation, before sinking into thought. She had never found an opponent that had truly pushed her to her limits, so it was only natural for her to have supreme confidence in herself. Especially when it came to her speed, as the thing light was best known for was being the pinnacle of speed itself.

“I do have expertise when it comes to opening dimensional portals. If we truly encounter a situation that we can’t handle, I can use one of those to escape.”

Hearing her humbled reply, James nodded his head. “That’s more like it. As for me, I’ll be leaving my core behind. I’ll send an avatar with my full combat power to help you. The laws of the world should prevent there from being anything that can destroy my avatar to such a degree where it even affects my core. But, you never know with special abilities.”

Tsubaki gave a small nod. “When will you be free to leave?”

“Ah, you seem to be misunderstanding something.” James said with a small smile. “I’m already there. My avatar just entered the world of the March, and is waiting for you while discussing the plan with the Metong. Once you arrive, they’ll send the two of us to the location of the most recent incident.”

Tsubaki blinked in surprise, before vanishing in a flash of light. After she had left the facility, she tore open a rift with her hands and walked through, appearing next to a large, silver ship. Below, she could see the massive factory world of the March.

Are you ready for the shift? James’s voice spoke into her mind, to which she nodded her head. A moment later, her body was wrapped in blue light, and she could feel herself being moved through space again. When she appeared, she was floating next to an absolutely massive figure. From outwards appearances, the figure seemed to be James, but was so large that Tsubaki’s entire body did not even reach the top of its foot.

Tsubaki knew that this must have been the form that he took when he was defending the throne of Deckan, but she had never seen it herself. Still, she only took a moment to look him over before regarding the area that they had been sent to.

Tsubaki could see the remains of numerous worlds, shattered rocks floating in the void of space. At their center, a red sphere that appeared to have burst open, a great ring of fire extending out from it. Although Tsubaki had been told that there was a unique energy signature, she could not personally sense such a thing from her location.

James, however, seemed to notice something. Ahh… well, this isn’t good.

Have you found something? Tsubaki responded, the two communicating via their mana.

I’m familiar with the scale of this realm. An average star in this realm is about thirteen million kilometers in diameter. The force required to rupture a star in this way is no joke. And there’s something else… an energy with traces of cosmic fire. I’m taking us to the next site.

There wasn’t even much time to prepare before Tsubaki was once again shifted. The region that they appeared in this time was far more desolate, with even the once-burning flames of the sun having died out. Only dust remained in the vicinity of the dead star.

The trace is too old here. James muttered telepathically, his eyes scanning the system. But let’s look at the rest of the evidence. The planets here weren’t destroyed by the star exploding like the last location. Instead, it appears that they were entirely removed before that process happened. Otherwise, we would still see traces, even if this happened ten years ago.

Tsubaki’s eyes went wide as she examined the surroundings, before sending a message back to James. Is it not possible that the planets had been pushed out of the system from the force of the blast after so many years?

Possible, but extremely unlikely. Even if I could not sense the planets themselves, I would be able to detect debris from their moons. The force required to move a planet at such speed without leaving any of its debris behind would have entirely destroyed a smaller moon. However, there is not a single asteroid, aside from two that appear to be strays.

Tsubaki gave a small nod as she heard that, agreeing to his logic. Then, what do you think is the cause?

First, let’s go over the timeline. You omitted some important details when you were relaying the information to me. Tsubaki blinked when she heard that, letting him continue. The stars were not destroyed all at once. Instead, there were two that were destroyed in a similar period, and then two hundred, and then the one that had been the Metong’s world. There are likely other stars as well at this point that have vanished, but their light hasn’t dimmed in the neighboring skies.

Tsubaki furrowed her brows, her tail stiffened behind her as she tried to find the detail that had been omitted. Seeing that she was having difficulty, James shook his head. Going with the fact that the planets here were removed ahead of time, and the trace I felt before… I believe I have a general answer as to what type of monster we are facing this time.

The kitsune sported a curious look, urging him to explain. The first two stars that burst should have given birth to two monsters. This region of space is directly between those first two coordinates. After they were born, they instinctively sought each other out to reproduce.

This particular species seems to incubate within the heart of a red star. In this region of space, a quarter of the stars that disappeared were of this type, as were the first two that disappeared. Our last location was formerly a yellow star, where the fire only turned red after it had erupted.

There still seemed to be details that Tsubaki did not understand, however. Then, what is the significance with the planets being removed?

Pregnancy cravings. James spoke with a wry grin. The mother creature likely needed to consume the planets as nourishment for the unborn baby, before laying the egg in the heart of the sun.

Is it really possible for a creature to be born inside of a star? Tsubaki asked, glancing towards the empty void where a star should have once resided.

Of course. In fact, one such creature has already appeared in your history. Now that truly stunned Tsubaki, causing her to look towards James in alarm. Far in the past, the great Blood War of the halflings and centaurs. When the Bloodied Hand was starting to push the centaurs back, the tides of war shifting, a great dragon appeared.

Through the cooperation of both halflings and centaurs, the Great Beast was heavily wounded, chased off. It later died of its wounds, its corpse found many years later by the heroc and repurposed into weapons and armor.

Tsubaki gave a faint nod at that, having learned the story as well. How could this creature have been of the same level as the ones we are discussing today?

It wasn’t. It might have actually been higher. After all, it possessed the skill and intelligence to weaken itself to such a level that the mortals of that age could wound it. It held the wisdom to understand the duty that it had been brought here for, and the willingness to accept an inevitable death at its own hands.

The dragon at that time was centuries before the first true dragon was born. Such a creature was impossible to produce by the world in that age, so I investigated some of the relics that had been created from its body. That creature should have been something that your Keeper purchased and brought to this world in order to end that war.

As for its size and strength… very likely, the world that it was born of was one with a far smaller scale. Perhaps one size smaller than Desbar’s world? Regardless, the creatures we’re looking for now will be roughly one hundred times larger, and without the wisdom of the one that was previously brought to your world.

Make no mistake, this is a creature capable of destroying entire planets with its power. It devours stars as food, and uses others as hosts to incubate its young. Creatures of this type have lifespans in the millions of years. The only hope for this galaxy is that we eliminate them before they have time to spread further.

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