["Save me!"]
The distress signal came from none other than Phantylia - the very same woman who had shared Solon's bed for one night.
She appeared to be fleeing from pursuers, desperately making her way toward the Xianzhou while sending messages simultaneously.
Solon's eyes flickered as he quickly assessed whether this might be one of Nanook's traps.
Of the seven Destruction Magistrates, he had slaughtered all but two - and those remaining were the weaker strategists who theoretically posed no real threat.
Moreover, the Antimatter Legion's rabid dog mentality meant they had no allied factions to call upon.
The only concern was Nanook deciding to intervene personally... At this thought, Solon's fingers brushed against his chest where a fragment of a golden branch lay concealed.
'Worst case, I'll just call for backup.' Having made up his mind, Solon resolutely left the Xianzhou and flew toward the coordinates Phantylia had provided.
After an immeasurable time, he stopped in a desolate star system.
For caution's sake, this was a rendezvous point he'd decided on spontaneously - impossible to have been prearranged for ambush.
Still, Solon carefully scanned the area until satisfied that there was no trap, then waited patiently for Phantylia and her pursuers to arrive.
Before long, an alluring figure came into view.
She wore the same elegant yet revealing lotus-patterned palace gown, though her golden lotus crown was now badly damaged. The tattered dress revealed scorch marks and wounds on her exposed skin, her face a picture of panic.
In this moment, Phantylia resembled a queen whose palace had been stormed by rebels - the very image of an embarrassing retreat.
Spotting Solon, her eyes lit up as she flew to his side and clung to his arm.
"You actually came! This concubine thought you might..." Phantylia's cheeks flushed as she spoke with uncharacteristic coquetry, as if she'd instinctively mastered the art of acting spoiled.
Patting her arm reassuringly, Solon smiled. "What? Did you fear I'd abandon you? You're my woman - how could I ever discard you?"
His words gradually replaced Phantylia's panic with visible relief.
"Now tell me," Solon asked curiously, "who's chasing you?"
"That bastard Iron Coffin!" Phantylia gnashed her teeth, her expression suggesting she wished to grind her enemy to dust.
A gleam flashed in Solon's eyes - he seemed to have guessed the reason - though he feigned ignorance. "Iron Coffin? Why would he target you?"
"Who knows what malfunction possessed that hunk of scrap metal!" Phantylia fumed, her chest heaving attractively with each angry breath. "He suddenly accused me of betrayal and attacked without warning!"
Phantylia specialized in possessing intelligent beings and inciting internal strife, while Iron Coffin operated like a master hacker, infiltrating and hijacking advanced civilizations' mechanical networks. The more technologically advanced the enemy, the stronger he became.
Machines couldn't be possessed nor experienced emotions - they simply followed programming. Iron Coffin was Phantylia's natural counter.
Thus when Iron Coffin's robotic legions came charging, Phantylia could only flee in embrassment.
'So Rumbling Ruin's death has reached Iron Coffin's ears,' Solon mused. 'He thinks I've broken our pact, and since Phantylia both guaranteed our agreement and benefited from me...'
To traitors, nothing was more detestable than a defectator. Hence Iron Coffin's immediate assault.
Perhaps the mechanical magistrate had other motives, but Solon cared not. Only one thought occupied his mind: 'An opportunity to seize more Destruction authority has come!'
As Solon pondered, subtle shifts in Phantylia's eyes betrayed her own scheming thoughts.
Just as both parties harbored ulterior motives, a blue luminous wave filled the star system as an armada of warships completed their leap.
Leading them was an impossibly massive mech that stood out like a beacon.
The moment it appeared, scanners in its ocular units flickered rapidly before locking onto Phantylia and Solon. An armored finger immediately pointed accusingly.
"So you ARE a traitor!"
Clearly, this mech served as Iron Coffin's current vessel.
Phantylia scoffed. At this point, excuses was meaningless.
True to form, Iron Coffin behaved like the machine he was - no words wasted as he ordered the entire fleet to open fire.
Countless capital ship cannons unleashed a torrent of energy beams that engulfed the area where Solon and Phantylia stood.
Before the light could dissipate, their figures reappeared elsewhere.
Solon could have easily tanked the barrage, but chose to dodge instead - no sense dirtying his clothes.
Before the drone fleet could ready a second volley, Solon's body erupted with golden imaginary energy.
A golden Buddha statue larger than a star manifested in the cosmos like some primordial deity.
The colossus extended its palms, then brought them together in a thunderous clap.
Every drone ship between those palms was instantly crushed into fragments, their explosions forming an irregular line of fire.
BOOM!
Despite the vacuum of space, an ear-splitting detonation rang out as terrifying shockwaves rippled outward.
Many vessels that avoided the Buddha's palms couldn't escape the invisible force, shattering instantly.
A single clap had eliminated over a third of the drone fleet.
Witnessing this, Phantylia in Solon's arms stared with undisguised awe. Suddenly she understood why females instinctively sought powerful males - this sense of security was utterly intoxicating!
Iron Coffin's optic sensors flickered wildly. While machines felt no fear, he did.
Immediately he ordered all remaining ships to attack while using the chaos to retreat unnoticed.
"Trying to escape?"
A mocking voice transmitted directly into the mech's receptors as a pale hand materialized from the void to seize its head.
Solon stepped forth from golden light, behind him the Buddha's countless fists reducing the remaining fleet to fireworks.
Iron Coffin desperately attempted to flee his mechanical shell as data streams, only to discover with horror that he'd been trapped in an electronic prison with no escape.
Solon's lips curled in derision. To his senses, Destruction Magistrates bearing Nanook's blessing shone like million-lumen beacons in the void.
Moreover, his own authority over the Destruction Path granted him absolute dominance over these Emanators of Ruin.
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