“.. You have got to be shi-” 

A vine lashed at him and sent him flying, but strangely the lash didn't hurt. Perhaps it was Shuhu's way of sending him away. He was sent flying for quite a while before he smelled the scent of the ocean. 

“That's strange. Wait, something's not right!!” 

He manifested a pair of flaming wings, which now looked like dragon wings instead of phoenix ones, and managed to stop his descent. Juviel looked below and saw a beautiful ocean with clear waters. But despite it's beauty, he couldn't help but sense a feeling of danger from it. 

“This is so strange, one part of me feels like this ocean is amazing and the other part is giving me a warning not to enter..”

Juviel shook his head, deciding not to get closer to the sea and instead started searching for the shore, which he quickly found. 

“Phew. Let's get out of here.” 

After landing on the shore, he looked around and noticed that in the distance someone was actively fighting Shuhu. There were faint dragon roars in the distance, and he felt a familiarity from these roars. So they might be a Scion of Permanence as well. 

He saw Shuhu effortlessly mow down buildings like it was nothing, was the Scion so weak? The branches and leaves of Shuhu rustled, and the faces of people sprouted like fruits from the treetops, emanating raucous laughter. 

"Do not succumb to death. Do not grow accustomed to it. Embrace me... become a part of me…” 

Those were, without even a shred of doubt, the faces of all those that got killed by Shuhu just now. Is it even appropriate to call it death? 

The realisation sent a chill down his spine, and Juviel couldn't help but notice one more thing. This was a tiny detail, but Shuhu was enjoying this. He observed from afar, and saw it torturing people. 

Although this was a tiny detail in comparison to the grand scheme of things, it was this tiny detail that made him hesitate and not give the golden flower to the System right now. The reason why he hadn't intervened yet despite his heart aching at the painful screams was because he didn't know both sides of the story. 

So ultimately, he decided against stepping in. Because he wasn't sure which one was innocent and which one was at fault, especially after he saw the racism of the Xianzhou towards the Abundance people. 

“Ugh. Whatever, let's just go get the branches and finish it up.”

He extended his wings and started flying in the direction of the Ambrosial Arbor. At his full speed, it didn't take too long to get there. 

“Let me try something..” 

He flew above the Arbor and managed to break a small branch off it. A branch was a branch at the end of the day, yet.. 

[Branches collected 0/10.]

It didn't count. 

So he broke a bigger branch and yet.. 

[Branches collected 0/10.]

It didn't count! 

Something was not right! 

He put the branches back on the tree and smeared some of his blood on it like it's an adhesive or something. The tree soaked it up right away and the broken branches were reattached successfully. 

“Hm, that was handy.” 

Unfortunately, now he felt lost. 

What now? 

He sat on another branch as he looked at the havoc Shuhu was causing. What should he do? 

Right as he was wondering whether to press the last resort button the System provided or not, a golden panel flashed infront of him; it was the Backup System. 

(Daily Task: Prevent the collapse of the Luofu until the Transcendent Flash returns.

Reward: Dependant on the damage reduced.) 

He blinked, and then blinked again before getting up. 

Then he chuckled. 

“So be it, who is this Transcendent Flash, though? Also, it's impossible to reduce the damage. That thing is stronger than I am, but I can reduce the amount of casualties.” 

(That would suffice.

Daily Task: Prevent the collapse of the Luofu until the Transcendent Flash returns. And save as many as possible. 

Reward: Dependant on the damage reduced and lives saved.) 

He stood up and glanced at the flower in his hand. 

“Tell me, what is this?” 

There was no response, it seems this backup System doesn't like talking too much. 

“Hmph. Do you atleast have a Storage function? I can't keep carrying this around.” 

(Yes. Do you wish to store this Petal Of Oblivion?) 

The actual fuck was that name? 

“Store it.” 

The flower disappeared from his hand, much to his relief because he did not want to carry around that thing. With that handled he looked towards Shuhu with a glint in his eyes and sighed. 

“Shuhu, how the actual fuck do I prevent you from harming people? Ain't no way my shields can protect these people, maybe if I believe hard enough it might work but realistically speaking, it's impossible.. So how can I do this?” 

He closed his eyes and ignored the screaming and buildings collapsing for a moment. Juviel thought and thought about how. 

“Use Hua's unstoppable, unavoidable attack?”

Then he noticed how no matter what came at Shuhu, he remained unharmed. No, that's not right. He squinted his eyes and was shocked. The attacks did reach Shuhu, it hit Shuhu and it did damage. But within a mere microsecond, the damage was gone. Shuhu was regenerating so fast that it looked like he was unharmed! 

“He's regenerating faster than me when I was in my Active Honkai mode.. If only I had my sword, or my dagger.. No, the dagger was given for the best.”

Surely that op sword would be able to do actual damage to Shuhu, unfortunately he didn't have access to the Storage anymore. So ultimately, he was back to 0.

“Fuck. Fuck. People are dying.. No, imprisoned? Both maybe.. What would she have recommended if she was here?” 

He thought and closed his eyes, 

“She'd probably tell me to not think too deep, maybe. And that the answer is most likely already at grasp. The current most powerful ability I have aside from Active Honkai mode and Hua's martial arts is.. My Emanator Authority. The best suited for defense as well. 

Didn't the Authority’s final description or something state that all the shields provided by one Skill had the effects of the other Skills as well? Now that I think about it, that's actually broken. How do I apply that in this scenario?”

He went through every single skill in his Authority and ran some simulations in his head. Juviel's eyes lit up and he laughed. He had an idea

“This is one crazy plan. But in theory it should work.”

He raised his hand and a near invisible golden wave of energy radiated from his hand. Once this energy covered all of Shuhu's range, he gripped his fist. 

“Activate.” 

The moment he did so, everyone that was fighting against Shuhu gained a shield. A very very sturdy shield. But who else got a shield? Shuhu. 

Everyone: ??? 

Shuhu: ??? 

High Elder: ??? 

Now, this wasn't a mistake. 

This was the plan, and something miraculous was about to occur. Something amazing. 

The shield around Shuhu glowed the brightest for some reason before the rest of the shields glowed too. Now everyone in the area had glowing orange barriers. Including Juviel, of course. 

He glanced at the shield around him and clicked his tongue, 

“The skill that gives a shield equal to half of the HP lost and gives the other half to me. With how much HP Shuhu has lost and regenerated, who knows how tough this shield is?”

Juviel chuckled and flew right into the middle of the battlefield. Everyone looked at the new face and somehow understood something. Their shields originated from him. To their relief, he seemed to be a Vidyadhara. But why was he putting a shield on Shuhu too? 

“Now everyone, take a chill pill and relax.”

But no, Shuhu didn't relax. He kept attacking but shit. Even the ‘fruits’ he had, he lost connection with them. Indicating that this was no simple barrier, it actually protected everything. This was ridiculous, no matter how much Shuhu attacked, he couldn't even budge the shields. 

Seeing that he made no progress whatsoever, the unreasonable Emanator of Abundance actually decided to be reasonable and not attack anymore. For a moment, Juviel did something impossible, something nobody had done before. 

He actually stopped the battle. Most importantly, all those that died recently were also revived as a result of the shields. Maybe they lost some prosthetics or something as a result of the Authority Space absorbing it but hey, they lived. 

Everyone stopped attacking. 

“This feeling.. Preservation? Hm? It's you from before. Why did you interfere?”

Juviel chuckled and flew infront of Shuhu with an apologetic smile, 

“I was forced to, anyway, can we talk this out?” 

“No.” 

And then he got struck by a vine, but of course, it did nothing. Because his barrier was made using half of EVERYONE's lost HP. 

“Aw. Negotiations broke down quite quickly. Well shit, guess we wait. Hey, you, High Elder, let's atleast introduce ourselves.”

The High Elder in question didn't look happy because his fellow Vidyadhara was so goofy. Especially since this man even put a shield on Shuhu! Who was he protecting? This is treason! 

“Dan Feng.” 

Juviel nodded, understanding that the man didn't like him. 

“March 8th, could you explain to me what's going on? Who is this Shuhu and why are you two fighting?”

Upon hearing that, Dan Feng looked at him in surprise for a moment before nodding in understanding. 

“You just went through hatching rebirth? I will fill you in on the details then, March.”

Juviel landed near the man and nodded to him in gratitude. Shuhu kept attacking while they were explaining but the barrier remained sturdy as heck due to all the HP Shuhu lost. In essence, Shuhu was now understanding what people go through when they fought him. 

Anyways, from what Dan Feng had explained, he understood the general outline of everything that was happening. What the Vidyadhara were, where he was, what exactly is Shuhu. He glanced at Shuhu, and then the System panel before chuckling. 

“So that's an Emanator Of Abundance, huh..” 

He saw the people stuck inside Shuhu and closed his eyes in an attempt to feel the connection to their shields. Then he raised his hand and made a pulling gesture, which pulled the people straight out of Shuhu. 

“There.” 

And that was the end of talking.. Seeing this, Shuhu actually stopped attacking. 

Nobody attacked, because they all thought a shield like this would definitely not last too long. So they waited until it went off. 

… 

5 minutes later

That's strange, why hasn't it gone away? 

They thought and waited some more. 

… 

10 minutes later, 

…! 

“Are you an Emanator as well!? Of the Preservation of all things!?” 

Shuhu shrieked, because he realised this shield did not have a duration! 

“Bingo bingo, aw, were you all waiting for the shield to disappear? Haha, this thing ain't fading even if I die!” 

Okay maybe that was a lie because he never tested it but they all believed it after Shuhu shrieked about him being an Emanator Of Preservation. 

“By Lan above we are going to survive!”

Well, maybe, because Shuhu started attacking again. Once this shield was gone, it ain't coming back for a month. So the Transcendent Flash or whatnot will have to come before the shield gets destroyed. 

He quickly deprived Shuhu of his shield and added it to the rest of the shields. Then for some reason he took out his phone and took a selfie. 

“Why did I just do that? Whatever, might as well take some more pictures while I'm at it.” 

Maybe his leisurely taking pictures was the straw that broke the camel's back, because Shuhu took out a very familiar looking thing. He took a photo of it for whatever reason and then realised it, 

“Shit, isn't that a Stellaron?” 

Juviel's eyes widened in horror, what was Shuhu planning on doing!? His instincts kept telling him to stop Shuhu, otherwise it would be too late! 

He instinctively tried to summon his sword to unleash a sword strike but nothing appeared. So instead he grabbed at one of Shuhu's vines and.. Attempted to locate the Stellaron's wavelength so that he could take it before Shuhu did anything weird. He actually found it very easily, the Stellaron was letting out a very ‘I'm here’ type of energy. As if it was.. Beckoning him. He ignored it and borrowed the Stellaron. 

Dan Feng: … 

Shuhu: … 

Everyone: … 

Being so close to a Stellaron, he could feel it. Some sort of power eating away at his body, as well as whispers. Very difficult to resist temptations. 

“... Pathstrider of.. Preservation.. You seek to save your companion, no? I have been observing you.. You seek the artifact of Abundance residing on this ship.. Yet it is dead.. It is dead.”

Juviel's face paled at what it said. It must be referring to the Arbor, although it's a bit creepy how it was watching him without him noticing, his instincts told him that this wasn't a lie. Combined with how the branches didn't get accepted by the Quest, then the answer was simple. 

The Arbor was dead. 

The energy that remains within it wasn't enough. Just when he realised this was a suicide mission given by the Equilibrium, the Stellaron whispers to him, 

“Use me.. To revive the artifact of Abundance.. Then you will get what you came for..” 

(Stellaron's Echoes noticed. Please do not engage with them.) 

“Noisy insect of the Equilibrium.. Shut up..” 

Dan Feng noticed the expressions on Juviel's face changing and he immediately had a bad feeling. 

“March, what are you thinking!? Don't fall for the Stellaron's temptation.”

He wished he had the option to refuse it, but really, there were only 2 options. Accept the Stellaron's offer, or press the button provided to him by the System, but it can only be pressed thrice. Even then, what would the cost of it be to the System? She never mentioned that. Which is why he hasn't pressed it yet. 

“Maybe something will.. Happen to her.. If you press that button...”

“...” 

Arguably, although it made sense, there was no doubt that pressing it once wouldn't kill her. Since the limit was 3, then once was fine. No wait.. 

“Who said the limit.. was 3? It was one.. Your memories.. Have been tampered with.. Unknowingly.”

His expression changed immediately. Just when had he begun to think it was 3? He couldn't remember! 

Now that the Stellaron mentioned it, he recalled what the System said:

[The green button is the one that issues my Salvation Quest. Furthermore, if necessary, you can press this button again and something magical will happen. As for what it is, I don't know either. Only that I set the algorithm to pick out what's best suited for getting you out of the predicament which forced you to press the button.] 

She didn't say anything about there being 3 uses. That was all it took for him to make a decision. 

“Use me.. And save your.. Companion..” 

The System was his weak spot. 

“March, no! Do not do this!” 

Dan Feng's expression changed as Juviel gripped the Stellaron tightly and watched as it melded into his body. Juviel's eyes turned gold with red 4 pointed stars as his pupils. His hair got longer and the white became a shade of gold with red tips. 

His horns turned white, and his tail grew white scales as he extended his wings and flew straight towards the Arbor. The whispers from the Stellaron were even more difficult to resist than the constant feeling of wanting to use Active Honkai mode after he became a MANTIS. 

“What is.. This power in you.. Fascinating.. You made the right choice.. Your companion is only a minute away from being saved.. A job well done, isn't it?” 

Juviel didn't respond until he reached the Ambrosial Arbor. Then he said, 

“How do I revive it?” 

“Place.. Your hand.. On it..”

(User, do not listen to-) 

“Noisy...” 

The panel simply disappeared mid sentence. That spoke volumes about how dangerous this Stellaron was. Backup or not, this was still a System. Seeing what happened to the panel actually made him hesitate. 

“.. The revival.. Of this relic.. Will not benefit me.. One bit. That.. Thing is.. Lying.” 

Juviel gritted his teeth and recalled the ‘Salvation’ Quest as well. There weren't any means of collecting the Branches, so what could it be aside from a suicide mission!? 

And an Emanator Of Abundance, he saw Shuhu, he was certain he could not kill that. What more getting a limb from the Aeon Of Abundance! 

Feeling angry, he nodded and reached out to place his hand on the Arbor. It was a struggle to remain calm, that's why he had to collect the branches as soon as possible. Even if this was a shot in the dark, it was still the best option yet. 

The moment he placed his hand on the Arbor, he felt oceans worth of energy flowing out of his hand from the Stellaron and into the Arbor. Immediately, the branches were lit with ghostly blue yellowish flames. Runes of some sort had also appeared above the Arbor.. 

“It.. Is ‘alive’ again..”

Feeling excited, he quickly removed his hand and flew to the top of the Arbor. He cut off one branch and glanced at his System panel. 

[Branches collected 1/10.]

Absolute cinema. 

It actually worked! He quickly got to work and started collecting branches. 

“You.. Are.. Not of this.. Time, are you..?” 

He didn't know what that meant, but he couldn't bother replying. Because he sensed something approaching his way, something dangerous. It didn't feel like Shuhu, nor the High Elder. Neither of them felt lethal to him after he got assimilated with the Stellaron, so whatever that was coming in his direction right now was something even more lethal than two Emanators. 

He gritted his teeth as he felt something slipping away from his mind as he used more and more power from the Stellaron. He knew it would only be a matter of time before he was reduced to a mindless servant of this Stellaron, so he had to hold on, no matter what. 

For her sake. 

To resist, he activated the Active Honkai Reaction Mode, and now there were 2 forces fighting each other over the right to control his body. It hurt a lot, but maybe it was his luck, or maybe it was the silver lining amidst all the misfortune, but his gamble paid off and he retained his sanity. 

Juviel sped up to his maximum speed and started collecting branches as fast as possible. 

[Branches collected 5/10]

Only 5 more and his System would be awake. He gritted his teeth and pushed on, disregarding the danger that was approaching. 

[Branches collected 10/10.

Would you like to submit?] 

“YES!!”

[Submitted.. Processing...] 

Immediately after he finished, he turned towards the Emanator of Abundance. 

“An Emanator.. Would be a better.. Choice.. Than a relic.. No? Hehehehe.. Kill him.” 

The sanity degradation effect of the Stellaron truly was something ridiculous, even with all his buffs and the modified Garuda genes, he still couldn't resist the degradation for too long. So eventually, the whispers of the Stellaron started making sense. 

“Yeah. He would be better.” 

Juviel extended his wings once more and flew straight towards the Emanator Of Abundance. Shuhu attacked him with vines, but they only got burnt away. Shuhu tried to affect his mind, but what was there to affect? His mind had turned into a battlefield between his MANTIS instincts and the Stellaron's whispers. 

This directly prevented him from being controlled by Shuhu. 

He landed one punch with all his might, and a huge hole was made in Shuhu. It looked as if he had snapped in half. However, Shuhu recovered immediately. Seeing that, Juviel clicked his tongue and raised his hand, causing an elemental dragon made of fire to form. 

Then he shot it at Shuhu, but Shuhu quickly blocked it and started retaliating. At first, neither of them had an advantage, but later Juviel started having an upper hand due to the assimilation of the Stellaron speeding up. Now every bit of his attacks had the Stellaron's destructive might in them. 

This caused Shuhu's regeneration to lag. 

The lag was little, but it was noticeable. 

Dan Feng looked at the two and felt frustrated. Because he knew there wasn't much he could do in this situation. Both of them were psychopaths, regardless of who wins, the winner will definitely go for them next. 

“Cockroach!”

Juviel complained and instinctively tried to pull out the Banner Of Nihility, but failed. Clicking his tongue, he used Hua's Edge of Taixuan and unleashed a flaming golden dragon once more. He felt the power of Permanence within him absorbing power from the Stellaron and changing. 

What was going on? He had no idea, but he was getting more and more familiar with his new powers. His mind also felt clear, but something was missing. 

Something important. But what was it? 

He glanced at the surroundings as he noticed Shuhu attempting to control soldiers but failed due to the shield he had placed before. 

“Pfft. Cockroach.. of the.. Abundance, aren't you? All.. Bark and.. No bite.”

Shuhu was enraged upon hearing that, but his expression changed and turned to face a certain direction.

In that direction, the sound of glass shattering was heard. 

Juviel as well heard it, and glanced at that direction. He noticed a small shuttle-like ship flying right into the battlefield. 

“More.. Insects?” 

Despite the words sounding alien to him, he couldn't find anything wrong with them. He was simply irritated as to why someone was disturbing his hunt for this cockroach. He needed this roach's power for something important. 

He couldn't get to think too deeply about it before a huge beam of light fell on him. It was aimed at both him and Shuhu. 

“Fuck!”

The beam of light felt cold, he knew how it felt because he just got hit with it. His passive shield flared up as his HP instantaneously went below 10%. He turned to look at Shuhu and was relieved to see it was still alive, and recovered just as quickly. 

But he didn't even get time to catch his breath as he felt another attack heading his way. All he saw was a blue flash.. and one arm was cut. But thankfully, due to the Stellaron+Active Honkai Reaction Mode+High Elder regeneration boosts.. It regenerated in an instant. 

“What are you..?”

He heard a soft, cold voice enter his ears and this simple question did a factory reset. What was he? Wasn't he a MANTIS, no wasn't he, DESTRUCTION, wasn't he a humaDESTRUCTION? 

It seems that the Stellaron was winning this battle as even his thoughts were starting to go in the direction of Destruction. 

“.. I.. Am.. Destr.. No.. I am..”

Juviel looked at where the voice came from and replied in a strained voice, but the Stellaron had distorted his vision. He couldn't see reality, he could only see what the Stellaron wanted him to see. Right now, all he saw was a white silhouette with red glowing orbs for eyes wielding a blue light. 

“Pitiful thing. You can still speak? Matters not, there shall be sufficient time for interrogation after you are incapacitated.”

The voice said, almost in a tone of pity at what she was seeing. Then the silhouette raised that blue light and struck at him. He felt his body instinctively try to use Hua's martial arts, but failed. Gritting his teeth, he punched at the blue light coming his way and the light was actually pushed back. 

“Oh?” 

A voice of interest. From the voice, she was most likely a woman. Her attacks didn't relent and she kept attacking. She unleashed a torrent of attacks, each one atleast cutting a limb or destroying all the bones in his body. Yet, he still didn't die. 

He kept regenerating. 

“This speed is even higher than the Borisin Warhead.” 

She said, feeling a bit shocked now. But she still wasn't stressed. How strong was this woman to actually render him immobile and only make him keep defending? 

Just then, he saw Shuhu attacking her. But she evaded with ease and attacked him as well. The battle went on like this; 3 of them engaging in a weird brawl where the silhouette had the upper hand. Eventually she seemed to have had enough and unleashed a different type of slash which froze Shuhu. 

“Where were we again? Right, let's deal with you first.” 

Juviel gritted his teeth and threw a flaming dragon at her, only for it to be sliced in half immediately. The fuck was going on? Wasn't fire supposed to be the weakness of ice type? 

“Escape.. Bide your.. Time.. You are.. Immortal..” 

He immediately turned around and flew in the opposite direction. The silhouette was surprised, but didn't actually make a move. Juviel thought she decided to let him go, until he felt his senses issue a warning but he couldn't react fast enough. 

A flash, and his wings were cut. 

As he started plummeting into the ground, his wings regenerated and he attempted to fly. But they got cut again. And again. And again. Until he was facing her once more. 

“You.. You monster.”

He couldn't help but feel fear towards this silhouette, how powerful was she? 

“Surrender, and your life may still not be forfeit, disgrace of the Vidyadhara.” 

“Agree.. Agree.. Bide your time.. Then destroy from the inside..” 

Juviel nodded and lowered his arms, the silhouette was satisfied with what he chose to do and lowered her weapon as well. But suddenly, a golden light flashed between the two of them, and both of them were sent flying. Juviel, by complete ‘coincidence’, was sent flying towards Shuhu. 

The frozen Shuhu's eyes gleamed as he sent forth a carnivore vine from under the ground, it seems he was waiting for an opportunity to strike. This vine ate the stunned Juviel, normally he'd be able to resist but the golden light had stunned him. Wherever that light came from, it had benefitted Shuhu. 

“This power.. The Stellaron, it's truly magnificent. The power of Permanence as well, exquisite.. ” 

Somehow, history returned to how it was and Shuhu ended up using the Stellaron in the end. Flaming leaves appeared on Shuhu as a golden orb appeared in the middle of its body containing Juviel. 

The silhouette got back up quite easily and her voice was frosty. 

“A slightly stronger ant is still an ant.” 

She scoffed and started attacking. History unfolded once more as she fought Shuhu, and her friend went to get reinforcements. At the same time, a panel appeared in front of the slumbering Juviel. 

[Congratulations, you have completed the Salvation Target Quest. 

System has been reactivated.]