Let my heart bravely take wing~ fly through the deep dark night~ to chase the bright moonlight♬
Robin parted her lips, taking the lead for them.
A gentle song echoed in the turbulent surroundings, a light melody materializing as her lips moved.
Like the first ray of sunshine at dawn, the power of Harmony warmly flowed, cleansing every corner of the soul.
It carried away feelings of unease, soothing the frightened fledglings.
"You will all be safe."
A silent blessing was bestowed upon the children through the song.
"Sing. When you finish this song..."
Robin gathered the children into her arms one last time, whispering in their ears.
"...your teacher will be back, and everything will be over."
Robin smiled gently, then left the house amidst the increasingly violent tremors.
She had already sent a request for support to the Interastral Peace Corporation docked nearby.
She believed they would arrive soon.
But the problem was how to hold on until they arrived.
Destroying a planet was no difficult feat for the Antimatter Legion; on the contrary, it was incredibly easy.
If a major figure were among them, then annihilating a star would be no different from a speedrun for Them.
Right now, the only person capable of halting the advance of the Destruction...
...was herself, a follower of the Path of Harmony.
Robin took a deep breath, her resolve hardening.
The moment she stepped out of the house, a dark shadow enveloped her.
Looking up, she saw a fleet that filled the sky like ants.
All sorts of Voidrangers were rampaging on the ground, bringing destruction to all things.
Directly overhead, a colossal dragon-like creature was even on standby.
The pressure was, to put it mildly, immense!
"I just need to stall until the Corporation arrives..."
Feeling the crushing pressure, Robin instinctively wanted to retreat, but she quickly stopped herself.
She could not retreat.
If she retreated now, then this planet would truly be beyond saving.
To bring the peace of Harmony to the universe.
This had always been her ideal,
and she had long been prepared to sacrifice herself for it.
"Unintelligible low shouts"
Many Voidrangers noticed Robin's sudden appearance.
They twisted their bodies, raising their hideous weapons as they slowly advanced on her.
"birds are born with no shackles"
The words left Robin's lips with a slight tremor, the melody instantly leaping from the throat that had been kissed by Xipe.
"then what fetters my fate"
The song was not loud.
"blown away the white petals"
But it surprisingly reached the ears of everyone present.
"leave me trapped in the cage"
The power of Harmony was silently influencing their will for Destruction.
The Voidrangers that had been advancing suddenly stopped, looking dazed and confused.
Even the fleet in the sky, under the influence of Harmony, halted its assault on the planet.
A trickle of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.
Robin's face was pale, her condition clearly at its worst.
No matter how powerful the Path of Harmony was, she was, at best, only a Pathstrider.
Her power output and endurance couldn't compare to an Emanator.
This one act of "cognitive modification" had completely drained her.
The sheer numbers were too great. A few dozen would have been manageable.
But there were thousands upon thousands.
It was already a great feat for her to briefly control such a massive army of Destruction for a short while.
If the Corporation couldn't arrive during this window, she would have no choice but to play her last card as a desperate final gambit.
To merge with the notes of Harmony was, in any case, better than being reforged into the Antimatter Legion by the Destruction.
Just as the Xianzhou Alliance could summon the Aeon of The Hunt, high-ranking members of The Family could ask Xipe or one of Their avatars to briefly possess them and lend Their power.
But in return, a being at the Emanator level or higher would not hold back.
If the Corporation didn't pull through,
the best possible outcome for this planet would be to merge into the grand symphony, to be with the myriad family of Harmony.
"Not bad, but not enough."
A soft, yet exceptionally cold and ethereal voice, slowly drifted down from above.
Realizing something, Robin's pupils suddenly constricted.
The moment the female voice was heard, she involuntarily stepped back.
Her delicate features contorted in pain, her throat burning as if she had swallowed molten lava.
"Cough!"
Robin immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood, as if she had suffered a grievous injury.
"Now this is an unexpected delight."
An evolved version of the Doomsday Beast, the all-exterminating Star-Annihilator Beast, opened its palm as if unaffected.
"Join the embrace of Destruction, singer of Harmony."
A woman with long, silver hair hovered in its palm, a large, purple-black halo above her head.
"A Lord Ravager..."
Robin's voice was hoarse as she forced out those words.
"Lord Ravager," the title for several of the most favored generals of Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction.
Like the Arbiter-Generals, they were Emanators known throughout the universe.
"Singer of Harmony, your talent for tuning the 'Chorus' is excellent. You could serve under me as a grand conductor."
Stellar Howl looked down on her.
Robin remained silent.
No wonder she felt this attacking Antimatter Legion was unusually orderly.
So it was the work of Harmony's methods.
"Stellar Howl" was the Lord Ravager who mirrored Harmony.
She was the very one Nanook had personally visited, igniting a world of symphony and promoting from the ashes of the infinite chorus.
Although the one here was most likely just a proxy.
But to show off such petty tricks of Harmony in front of a former avatar of Xipe was undoubtedly an act of foolish arrogance.
Robin still said nothing.
She wanted to use her silence to buy more time, mentally urging the Corporation's fleet to arrive sooner.
If you asked who was most familiar with "Stellar Howl," it would have to be the Corporation.
After all, they had the most dealings with each other.
The "Guide to Dealing with Stellar Howl" was self-published by the Interastral Peace Corporation and then distributed for free throughout the universe.
This showed the depth of their relationship.
"You seem to have misunderstood."
Stellar Howl slowly raised a hand.
An immense power of Destruction formed an invisible pressure, slowly materializing in the surroundings.
"I was not asking a question. I was making a statement."
As her words fell, a massive torrent of Destruction's power surged toward Robin, clearly intending to transform her into a Voidranger.
"'O soul of tri-fold mien...'"
Seeing this, Robin hesitated no longer, closing her eyes and calling out weakly.
She immediately chose to ask Xipe to descend and fight in her stead.
"Lady Stellar Howl! An unidentified flying object is rapidly approaching our position!"
A note of disharmony appeared in Stellar Howl's perfect "Coordination Rate," which she found unpleasant.
"The Corporation?"
Stellar Howl temporarily stayed her hand, communicating through a channel unique to the legion under her command.
"No, based on visual inspection of the craft, it appears to be a starskiff from the Xianzhou Alliance?"
____
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