Chapter 91: The Hidden Dagger Revealed

“Master, what do we do?” Olivia stared up in shock at the enormous alien fleet filling the sky, panic rising in her heart.

Finn had always seemed invincible to her, but she wasn’t stupid enough to believe he could destroy those colossal ships overhead.

Finn let out a helpless sigh. “Get ready to run.”

He didn’t believe the fleet would let him go after he handed over the living alien. He had already killed at least two of them and blown one of their saucers out of the sky.

Unless these aliens thought in a completely different way and had no concept of avenging their own.

The moment he surrendered the hostage, the fleet would undoubtedly focus all its firepower on him.

Finn wasn’t arrogant enough to take on an interstellar fleet by himself. Confidence was one thing. Blind stupidity was another.

When Finn still made no move, the flat, mechanical voice came from the sky once more.

“Inferior life-form on the surface, if you do not release the astronaut, we will sterilize this planet of all life. Not even a single microorganism will remain.”

“Master, it said it’s going to kill all of us?” Olivia trembled.

She thought of her home in Black Mountain, her companions who had fought so hard to survive, the indigenous tribe that had helped her, the kind old woman from the tribe, Antonio...

“Master, what do we do? We have to let the alien go! You came from across the sea, didn’t you? If this fleet kills everyone, it’ll kill the people over there too. What are we supposed to do?” Olivia was on the verge of tears.

“Don’t panic,” Finn said calmly.

The greater the danger, the more important it was for him to stay calm. Panic would only cloud his thoughts. He needed a clear head if he was going to find a way out.

Holy Pontiff Alistair Rupert struggled to his feet and roared at Finn.

“You sinner! Didn’t you hear them? If you don’t stop this wickedness at once, god will destroy us all! This is the true judgment! Everyone will die because of you!”

He staggered toward them, trying to drag the alien hostage away.

Olivia rushed forward and shoved him back with the butt of her rifle. “Get lost! You blew up Black Mountain. You don’t get to talk!”

Finn stood straight as a sword planted in the scorched earth. He held his head high, pointed at the alien fleet, and called out,

“Believe it or not, one phone call is all it takes for me to have hundreds of people in mechs come cut you down!”

“...”

After a moment of silence, the mechanical voice came again from the sky crowded with hovering saucers.

“Inferior life-form, my understanding of your language is incomplete. Was that an attempt to beg for mercy?”

“Can I have some time to think before deciding whether to release this alien?” Finn called up.

“Yes. How long do you require?”

“I need five hours,” Finn said without a trace of shame.

“Inferior life-forms possess slower thought processes. This is understandable. By your system of timekeeping, you will decide whether to release the astronaut in five hours.”

The alien fleet readily agreed.

Finn expanded his Profound Energy shield, enveloping Olivia and the alien hostage.

He took out his phone, connected to the faint signal from the Myriad Realms Network, and called the Iron-Blooded Human Supremacy Guard’s emergency hotline.

“Hello. You have reached the Human Supremacy Guard’s Central Headquarters for World Beta-SIX-A-985. How may we assist you?” A gentle female voice came through the phone.

“I’m a Celestial Sojourner. Humanity is under threat on a planet in this world. I’m requesting immediate support!” Finn said, his voice grave.

“What is the threat level?”

“Planetary Annihilation—Species Extinction.”

The voice on the other end instantly turned serious. “Please transmit your cosmic coordinates! Sir, hold out just a little longer. We’ll be there soon! Long live humanity!”

“Long live humanity!”

Finn ended the call and sent them his coordinates.

Olivia took the sniper rifle from her back and aimed it at the saucers overhead, her expression strained. “Master, who did you just contact? Is someone coming to help us?”

“Yes. All we have to do now is wait.”

Finn sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and began cultivating.

Olivia had no idea what else to do. Everything she had experienced over the past few days had shattered her entire worldview. She had grown up in Black Mountain and had never been anywhere else.

Since she began following Finn, she had died and come back to life, found herself immune to lethal levels of nuclear radiation, gained access to an endless supply of nuclear rocket launchers, and had more clean water than they could ever drink. 

Then she had abruptly learned that the Holy Radiance she had once feared and revered was actually an alien life-form from another planet.

And now she was looking at a vast formation of flying saucers hovering in the sky.

They flew in ways Olivia couldn’t begin to understand, blotting out the heavens as they threatened to kill everyone in Refuge Cities—and even wipe out every living thing on the planet.

Olivia sat down beside Finn with the sniper rifle resting against her legs and wrapped her arms around her knees. Looking at Finn’s calm profile, she felt strangely reassured.

No matter what happened, she believed Finn would resolve this crisis and save everyone on the planet.

...

Five hours later.

The sky remained quiet. The enormous fleet of saucers, their hulls pulsing with white light, still hovered above Finn without the slightest change.

“Inferior life-form on the surface, your allotted thinking time has ended,” the flat mechanical voice announced.

Finn rose to his feet in silence.

He had stalled for five hours, yet there was still no sign of the Iron-Blooded Human Supremacy Guard.

“Inferior life-form on the surface, you have eight seconds to release the astronaut. Otherwise, we will sterilize one settlement of inferior life-forms.”

As the voice fell silent, a sphere of white light began gathering beneath the fleet’s largest saucer—the unmistakable sign of an energy weapon charging.

The sphere grew larger and brighter until it was almost impossible to look at. The sharp stink of ozone filled the air as oxygen was ionized, and the thick clouds turned snow-white in the glare.

“Eight seconds have elapsed,” the mechanical voice said without emotion.

The sphere of white light was about to fire and erase one of the Refuge Cities from the surface.

Suddenly, a thunderous boom shook the heavens.

A brilliant beam lanced down from higher in the sky and punched straight through the saucer!

The beam tore through the colossal vessel like a hot knife through butter, its massive frame collapsing and exploding.

Seven or eight more high-energy lasers rained down, destroying several other saucers.

The alien fleet was still reeling, unable to determine where the attacks had come from, when countless steel giants appeared in the distant sky, bearing down on them.

Armed with enormous ship-cleaving blades and heavy autocannons, the steel titans charged at sublight speed. Dazzling trails streamed from their frames as they swooped upon the saucers like eagles diving for prey.

“Alien scum! Prepare to die!”