And so, leaving only a small contingent behind in the planet's core, nearly the entire intelligent insect swarm emerged from underground.
That was how the earlier scene had come about. The ground split open, and the same fissures that had swallowed and chewed up the Doomsday Beasts now disgorged countless insects, all screeching at the top of their lungs.
We've been framed! Your Excellency, we're innocent! We swear we're not working with those traitors!
They were genuinely panicking. (ಡωಡ)
The Theater of Myriad Sounds had indeed begun transforming into an insect nest, but it was still one of Harmony's thousand manifestations. The concept of the Collective remained under Xipe's authority, and Harmony embraced all things. Accommodating an insect-like Theater of Myriad Sounds was hardly a challenge.
Once Propagation had finished its brief resurrection and obediently returned to its coffin—ashes scattered and all—the power of Harmony reclaimed the portions that had been torn away.
The Theater of Myriad Sounds returned to Harmony's domain.
In reality, the theater had simply thrown a brief tantrum. That was all.
Propagation had gotten up for a moment.
Just one moment.
Gradually, as the chaotic battle continued, all three factions—the Family, the insect swarm, and the Antimatter Legion—began noticing something strange.
When the Family attacked the insects, their attacks were nullified. But when those same attacks accidentally struck the Antimatter Legion, the Legion suffered damage as usual.
When the Antimatter Legion attacked the insects, its attacks were also nullified. Even when the Legion deliberately inflicted "accidental casualties" through indiscriminate attacks, the insects remained unharmed, the Family remained unharmed, and any Legion soldiers caught in the crossfire dropped dead.
Meanwhile, the insects could attack the Antimatter Legion with perfect effectiveness. If their attacks accidentally struck members of the Family, however, they were nullified.
The battlefield might have been a complete mess, but after running through a few simple combinations, the situation became perfectly clear.
Both the Family and the Antimatter Legion grew increasingly bewildered as the fighting continued, especially the Legion.
The Antimatter Legion had only one thing to say to the insects.
Hold on, guys! It's one thing for the Family to have an invincibility cheat. That's a blessing from Harmony. But where the hell did you insects get your invincibility cheat?!
Antimatter Legion: There are two factions using invincibility cheats on the battlefield. What do we do? Answers urgently needed!
Family Envoy: What the hell? Am I still half asleep? Why can I sense the Divine Master's power coming from these insects?
As the battle continued, the envoy discovered that his attacks genuinely couldn't harm the insects. After conducting an attunement, he confirmed that they were indeed under the Divine Master's protection.
Once every impossible explanation had been eliminated, whatever remained had to be the truth, no matter how unbelievable it seemed.
The Family's envoy wore an exceedingly complicated expression.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he would one day become family with an insect swarm.
And so, the situation changed yet again.
The Family and the insects joined forces against the Antimatter Legion.
After all, they were all among the universe's three great calamities. What difference did it make which one they fought?
The Harbingers of Calamity personally entered the fray. With no avenue of retreat remaining, they naturally intended to fight with everything they had and see whether they could still salvage the situation.
More than five hundred million Voidrangers were present. Even if their enemies were invincible, the Legion had nothing to fear from sheer numbers. Even if the opposition somehow acquired an instant-kill cheat on top of that, slaughtering five hundred million pigs would still take time.
As far as the Antimatter Legion was concerned, the only genuine threat was the Theater of Myriad Sounds, and it had now fallen silent.
One Harbinger of Calamity held off the Family's envoy. The planet's native inhabitants were hardly worth worrying about; the overwhelming majority were ordinary people, with only a handful having recently embarked upon the Path of Harmony.
As for the other members of the envoy's delegation, expecting them to break through an army of this magnitude was nothing short of wishful thinking.
Of the two remaining Harbingers, one was attempting to destroy the dormant Theater of Myriad Sounds, while the other was preparing to launch a direct attack against the planet itself.
The Harbinger couldn't help feeling fortunate that the scale of the original collective wish hadn't been sufficient to extend Harmony's damage-negating blessing to attacks of his own magnitude.
Otherwise, they would have had no choice but to wait until their enemies slowly wore them down and killed them.
As things stood, there was still hope. If they seized this opportunity, they might either complete the planetary strike ordered by Lord Phantylia or destroy the Theater of Myriad Sounds entirely and break free of its confinement.
The Family's envoy watched all this with mounting anxiety.
He could barely hold his own against a Harbinger of Calamity capable of destroying an entire planet single-handedly. Unfortunately, there was more than one of them here.
But just then, the Theater of Myriad Sounds stirred.
Its audience had already scattered into complete disarray, and the envoy had no idea what had caused the theater to reactivate.
"O Divine Master! Surely it is YOUR gaze that has awakened this slumbering theater! These villains have acted without restraint, defiling the paradise of Harmony!"
"Please bestow YOUR mighty power upon us and awaken the giants that support this magnificent hall!"
"O mouthpiece of Harmony, giant who proclaims the gospel! In the name of our Family, I beseech you—arise!"
Speaking in a peculiar cadence, the Family's envoy performed a strange ritual, even at the risk of exposing himself to a direct attack from the Harbinger of Calamity.
Boss Phase Two—activate!
The Harbinger glanced back nervously.
The Theater of Myriad Sounds had indeed begun operating again.
Unfortunately, it didn't move as the envoy had commanded.
"O mouthpiece of Harmony, giant who proclaims the gospel! In the name of our Family, I beseech you—arise!"
The Theater of Myriad Sounds remained stubbornly motionless, showing the envoy absolutely no respect.
Caw... Caw... Caw...
A flock of crows seemed to drift across the distant sky, kindly providing some background noise to ease the awkward silence.
Boss Phase Two—activation failed.
A theater without an audience was utterly meaningless.
For once, laughter could actually be heard coming from the Harbinger of Calamity.
Mocking laughter, to be precise.
Combined with the Harbinger's provocative gesture, it made the Family's envoy vividly imagine what his opponent was thinking, even though the Harbinger hadn't said a word.
Come on, hit me! Go ahead, hit me!
The envoy's fists clenched.
Oh, he was furious now.
"Hiss... Hah?" (Is that how you do it?)
An insect poked its head out from somewhere inside the Theater of Myriad Sounds. It had been studying the ritual the Family's envoy had just performed.
By now, the theater's audience seats were packed with intelligent insects. Unlike the previous audience of a relatively sparse hundred thousand people, more than a million insects had crowded into the stands.
They had been observing the Family's envoy from underground, watching how he had summoned this enormous structure.
And now they were trying to imitate his movements and behavior.
Admittedly, there were still plenty of details they didn't quite understand.
But whatever. This particular insect figured it had probably gotten the general idea.
At the center of the ruined stage, an intelligent insect began twisting its body in a peculiar dance. It flapped its wings, waved its legs, and rhythmically opened and closed its mandibles.
"Hiss-hah! Hiss-hah! Hiss-hah-hah!"
(O great Harmony, our magnificent Divine Master! Villains have invaded the paradise of Harmony and seek to harm our family. Please allow us to wield YOUR power!)
"Hiss... Hah... Hiss-hah!"
(Please bestow YOUR mighty power upon us and awaken the giants that support this magnificent hall!)
"Hiss-hah! Hissssss!"
(O mouthpiece of Harmony, giant who proclaims the gospel! In the name of our Family, I beseech you—arise!)
In the audience seats, millions of intelligent insects simultaneously joined the chorus, their screeches blending together in perfect harmony.
The collapsed walls and pillars suddenly flew upward, returning to their original positions.
The Family's envoy stared, his head practically overflowing with question marks.
What the actual hell?!
Even insects are stealing people's jobs these days? Has competition really gotten this ridiculous?
If you're the Tuner, then what the hell am I?!
The intelligent insect might as well have replied:
Open your eyes and take a good look. Who's the Tuner now?
The Theater of Myriad Sounds was completely restored, and it continued expanding. Every time enough additional seating appeared to accommodate another person—
No, another insect—
Yet another insect emerged from underground to occupy it.
The theater grew larger and larger, and Constantina's power increased along with it.