Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

Chapter 1156 1156: The Cosmic Pinata, Present For Alice

Rudy materialized high above the earth in the freezing, pitch-black void of the upper atmosphere.

The sudden absence of the sun had plunged the entire solar system into total darkness. And finding three hidden cosmic parasites in the infinite expanse of space presented a highly tedious chore.

They were cosmic, and the universe was filled with cosmos. Although if he truly wanted, he could find them, but he was too lazy to do that.

He decided to outsource the navigation.

Rudy opened a small, glowing dimensional tear directly next to him. He reached his hand through the rift to bypass the physical defenses of the annexed Divine Citadel and grabbed the Grand Archangel firmly by his shining halo.

He yanked the supreme holy being out of his sanctum and dragged him straight into the freezing vacuum of space.

The Grand Archangel gasped in absolute shock. The sudden exposure to the void instantly frosted his pristine platinum armor. Rudy casually cast a thin spatial barrier over the angel to keep his new compass from freezing to death.

"Point me toward the overgrown bugs," Rudy commanded, keeping his grip tight on the glowing halo. "You claim to be the supreme defenders of the cosmos. Use your holy senses and track their dimensional signature."

"Unhand me, you tyrant!" the Grand Archangel shrieked, struggling frantically against the Overlord's grip.

Rudy squeezed the halo tighter. A painful surge of crimson magic forced the celestial being into compliance. The defeated archangel closed his eyes and extended his divine awareness across the dark void.

He raised a trembling, armored finger to point toward a warped section of reality hidden just behind the orbit of the moon.

"There," the Grand Archangel choked out. "They are hiding inside a fractured pocket dimension. It is a realm of pure cosmic rot and shifting sludge."

Rudy looked toward the hidden coordinates with profound disgust. He released the angel's halo and kicked him back through the portal to the Citadel.

'I am absolutely skipping that trip,' Rudy thought, dusting off his hands. 'I am wearing my best tailored suit. I refuse to step foot inside a dimension made of cosmic sludge.'

Since hunting them down required entirely too much effort, Rudy decided to make the parasites come to him. He raised both hands above his head and tapped into the infinite well of his god-tier mana.

He forcefully condensed an ocean of pure divine energy into a single, blinding sphere of burning plasma.

Rudy forged a brand new, vastly superior sun right in the middle of the frozen sky.

"The power of the sun… in the palm of my hand…"

The custom-made star flared to life. It bathed the ruined solar system in a beautiful, warm light. The radiant heat washed over the planet below to instantly melt the unnatural frost covering the Orcelona Keep.

This new sun did more than provide light. It radiated the irresistible, mouth-watering aroma of pure, concentrated divine magic. To the starving cosmic parasites hiding in the dark, the new star presented the ultimate, galaxy-consuming feast.

A colossal dimensional tear ripped open near the moon. However, the three ultimate eldritch bosses were not completely mindless. Sensing the overwhelming power of the new star, two of the supreme horrors cautiously pulled back into the shadows of their fractured realm to observe.

Only one of the three allowed its insatiable, galaxy-consuming hunger to completely override its survival instincts. Or perhaps, it just assumed it could beat Rudy.

The greedy parasite scrambled out of the void with wildly flailing tentacles and countless glowing red eyes, rushing forward in a mindless frenzy to devour the delicious new sun.

Rudy floated directly in its path and cracked his knuckles. He initially planned to simply erase the monster, but he realized a quick execution was entirely too boring for a date day. He wanted to bring Alice a gift.

Bypassing his usual spatial magic, Rudy tapped into molecular transmutation.

He aimed his hand at the charging, moon-sized abomination and snapped his fingers. A massive wave of bright pink and yellow energy washed over the cosmic horror.

The creature's terrifying biological mass instantly rewrote itself on a fundamental level. Its flesh, fangs, and tentacles smoothly transformed into hollow, brightly colored paper-mache.

The apocalyptic threat froze mid-charge, completely reshaped into a ridiculous, six-eyed, neon-pink pinata. The other two bosses hiding near the moon immediately sealed their dimensional tear, terrified by the absurd display of reality-bending power.

"Perfect," Rudy smiled.

He applied a quick shrinking spell to reduce the massive pinata down to the size of a beach ball. Tucking the colorful paper monster under his arm, Rudy teleported directly back to the castle courtyards.

The warm light of the new sun beamed down beautifully on the manicured gardens. Alice stood exactly where he left her, holding the wicker picnic basket while the neon party lights deactivated around them.

She blinked in surprise as Rudy materialized in front of her.

"I got our sun back," Rudy announced, setting the brightly colored pinata on the grass. "And I brought you a present."

Alice looked down at the neon-pink paper monster with a highly amused smile. "What is that?"

"It used to be a supreme cosmic horror trying to plunge the world into an eternal winter," Rudy explained casually. He reached into the ether and conjured a sleek, perfectly balanced wooden baseball bat.

Then, he placed the bat into her hands and stepped back. "Now, it is our pre-lunch entertainment. Give it a swing."

Alice laughed out loud, completely unbothered by the absurdity of her Overlord boyfriend. She handed him the picnic basket, gripped the wooden bat with both hands, and delivered a solid, echoing strike directly to the side of the pinata.

The paper-mache ruptured completely. Instead of guts or blood, hundreds of sparkling, fruit-flavored magical candies spilled out across the perfectly cut grass.

"Oh wow!" Alice cheered, dropping the bat to scoop up a handful of the glowing sweets. She unwrapped a blue one and popped it into her mouth, her dark eyes lighting up at the taste. "These are amazing!"

Rudy smiled warmly and spread a checkered blanket over the lawn. "Only the best for you. Now, let us enjoy those strawberry pastries."