After Derick's communication ended, one after another, Xianzhou warships appeared in the outer reaches of the star system.
The Xianzhou Alliance's warships.
Moldu saw this, and the last shred of hope was utterly shattered. He knew that for his people, the Borisin, the true doomsday had arrived.
Moldu looked at Derick and snarled, "Do you think that by killing all of us Borisin, the Xianzhou Alliance will accept you as one of their own? Don't dream of it! You possess the Heart of the Crimson Moon and have devoured flesh and blood. Can you really resist that pleasure? The moment you're known to have devoured flesh, that bunch of hypocrites from the Xianzhou will still treat you as a mortal enemy. Your only end will be to live out your days in the Shackling Prison."
"Who says I can't control that pleasure? From beginning to end, I have never once felt intoxicated by it," Derick said to Moldu with a smile.
Moldu still said in disbelief, "You're just deceiving yourself!"
"No, he is not," Jingliu, disguised as Castorice, spoke up. There was no need to hide anymore, so she used Jingliu's own tone.
"I can prove that he isn't."
"You... by what right..." Moldu's words trailed off as he looked at Jingliu in shock. "You... you're not Castorice. Who... who are you?"
"I am now merely a swordmaster wandering the cosmos."
Jingliu dropped her disguise, revealing her true self. Seeing her original appearance, Moldu's already shocked heart was shaken once more.
"Jingliu! It's you!"
If one were to name the Xianzhou native who left the deepest impression on the Borisin, there was no other choice but Jingliu. Their previous War Chief, the immensely powerful Hoolay, was felled by a single strike from Jingliu's sword and sent to the Shackling Prison, leaving the Borisin to live like wild dogs for hundreds of years.
And now you're telling me that Jingliu had been right in front of them for so long, and none of them had noticed.
Moldu's mind went completely blank.
Seeing that her disguise was gone, Jingliu no longer concealed her power.
Spotting a Borisin-occupied planet in the distance, she turned her blade and unleashed a slash of sword energy.
"Shines Across a Thousand Rivers!"
The crescent-shaped sword energy flew towards the planet, growing larger and larger during its flight until it was massive, cleaving the planet in two.
After being sundered, the planet violently exploded. As for the Borisin on its surface, not a single one survived; all perished in the attack.
This single attack sounded the horn for the Xianzhou Alliance's annihilation of the Borisin.
One after another, the Xianzhou warships advanced towards the Borisin planets, beginning the slaughter.
The Borisin attempted to fight back with their Beast Ships. But at that moment, Jing Yuan and Feixiao made their move.
Two Xianzhou Generals, two Emanators. Any counter-attack with even a hint of strength was swiftly dealt with by the two generals.
Things having reached this point, the outcome was sealed.
Derick didn't even feel the need to join the battle; he would just quietly watch the Borisin's end from here.
Jingliu, however, was still interested. She casually commandeered a Beast Ship and headed toward the Borisin planets. Her Mara-Struck condition was acting up; she needed to kill some people to feel better.
Derick glanced at Moldu, who was still on the ground.
Seeing that the future of the Borisin was sealed, Moldu began to beg Derick for mercy, "Lord Derick, the Borisin brought this upon themselves. Seeing as I served you diligently during this time, could you perhaps spare..."
Derick had no time to waste on Moldu's clownish pleading. With a light tap of his foot, a surge of energy extinguished the life force within his body, killing him instantly.
Robin stared dumbfounded at the dramatic turn of events.
How did things change so drastically in an instant?
The man she thought was a villain was now revealed to be an undercover agent from the Xianzhou Alliance, all to eliminate the Borisin who plagued the universe.
"This..." Robin felt her mind reel.
She almost suspected this was all a hallucination. But the thick stench of Borisin blood all around, and the approaching Xianzhou Alliance warships in the distance, told her that what Derick said was true—he really was a good person.
Derick glanced at her and said apologetically, "You must have been frightened these past few days, Miss Robin. I only treated you that way to deceive the Borisin."
Robin, now recovering from the shock, waved her hands repeatedly in response to Derick's apology, "It's alright, it's alright. This was all to defeat the Borisin. Compared to the threat they posed, my personal matters are nothing. I... I should be the one thanking you, Mr. Derick, for saving my life."
"We were all captured by the Borisin. If you hadn't brought us here under that pretext, I'm afraid we would have all become food for them."
She kept marveling inwardly.
All the things she couldn't understand before now made sense.
It was all for the sake of defeating the Borisin.
Never mind that Derick hadn't actually done anything truly untoward to her; even if he had, for the sake of defeating the Borisin and saving her, it wouldn't be incomprehensible.
It had to be said, given Derick's previous actions, his image in Robin's eyes had been extremely poor.
But now with this reversal, Derick's image was completely flipped, becoming incredibly noble and heroic.
"Mr. Derick... he's truly a good person!"
Robin looked at Derick, her heart fluttering.
Derick's appearance was exceptionally handsome. Before, when Robin believed him to be a vile Borisin War Chief, she naturally felt no attraction to him. But now, he was a hero protecting the peace of the universe, and with his good looks, Robin couldn't help but be moved.
"As long as you don't blame me, it's fine." Seeing that Robin held no grudge, Derick thought that this matter had been resolved satisfactorily. Although whether Robin blamed him or not wouldn't really affect him, he still preferred to keep everyone happy.
Derick's gaze shifted to the Borisin from the Danlun Temple, who were even more stunned than Robin.
A monk walked up to Derick and said with a wry smile, "I never would have thought, Mr. Derick, that you had deceived and outmaneuvered us all. Now that the Xianzhou Alliance army has us surrounded, what will become of us?"
Having witnessed the combat prowess displayed by Jingliu, the monks knew that even if all three million of them joined forces, they couldn't possibly harm Derick and his companions.
And according to the Xianzhou Alliance's usual policy towards the Borisin, there was only one path: death.
The monk now felt that all hope for their survival was lost.
"Normally, according to the rules of the Xianzhou Alliance, the Luofu and Yaoqing armies would be required to kill you along with the other Borisin—" Derick drew out his words, making sure every Borisin heard him clearly.
Actually, they wouldn't.
His teacher was a warrior, not a butcher, and Jing Yuan disliked needless slaughter even more. If they saw Borisin who yearned for peace, they would be willing to spare them. In fact, in the game's story, the Danlun Temple had dealings with the Xianzhou Luofu.
But they didn't know that right now! Derick wanted to win them over, so naturally, he had to emphasize their peril to highlight his own importance.
Hearing Derick's words, the monk knew there might be a turning point. He quickly asked with a look of pleasant surprise, "Mr. Derick, is there a chance for things to change?"
If possible, they didn't want to die either.
"Of course," Derick nodded. "I will protect you and provide you with a planet for temporary residence. As long as you cease living the Borisin way, I guarantee no one will hunt you down."
These people had developed the desire to leave even while among the Borisin. Derick believed in their resolve to tire of plunder and slaughter.
"Really? And what is the price?" the monk asked Derick.
"In the future, I need to take you to a certain place. There, you will find many monstrous foes that require your help to defeat. At the same time, there are many destroyed civilizations there, and I need your help to rebuild them."
The latter was the most important part.
After resolving the crisis on Amphoreus, he would need people to rebuild its civilization. And he needed the people of Amphoreus to gradually adapt to interacting with cosmic civilizations.
These Borisin were the most suitable candidates for the job.
"My proposal... do you accept?" Derick asked the Borisin.
Hearing Derick's question, the Borisin monk revealed a helpless smile.
"At this point, do we have any other choice?"
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