Chapter 72: Sealed

"Well, well, you came all the way here, saving me the trouble of facing that pesky bodyguard of yours. Tch, he was annoying." The feminine voice echoed through the surrounding outer space where Neolan and the Goddess of Niflheim were located.

Neolan’s eyes widened as he failed to recognize the voice, but the overwhelming presence accompanying it immediately told him that the person was extremely powerful. The Nox organization that came to his mind instantly as he couldn’t think of anyone else who would send someone behind him.

Just as Neolan was about to turn around to see who had spoken, a figure appeared in front of the transparent holographic glass. She tilted her head with a maniacal smile on her face and spoke in an impatient tone, "Where is your attention? I’m here to kill a big target like you, so how can you be so dilly-dally?"

The moment she appeared before him, Neolan’s eyes widened as he finally recognized her face. He had never expected to encounter this particular person in such a situation.

’Isn’t she Rosy? A Ninth Evolution Astrine Blade user?!’ He screamed inwardly as memories of the past surfaced in his mind. He remembered her from the time when the Demons had invaded, when her crazy and psychopathic personality had made even the Royal Demons fear her.

However, despite her terrifying reputation, she had eventually met her death during a decisive battle against the traitors of Humanity who had joined the Demons.

Yet, if she was here at this moment meant the Nox organization had escalated the assassination mission regarding him, ’I... am in trouble! Which bastard is the client? Bastard went to such lengths?!’ Before he could think any further, Rosy moved.

Her movement was so fast that Neolan couldn’t even perceive it, and in the very next instant, her hand smashed through the entire holographic glass covering both him and the Goddess of Niflheim.

The oxygen inside the spacecraft immediately began escaping as the shattered glass left openings to the vacuum of space. Neolan felt the sudden change as the pressure inside the deck collapsed, but before he could react, Rosy’s hand reached toward his neck in what appeared to him to be slow motion.

Just as she was about to grab him, the IDOM-05 suddenly moved, flipping upside down in one sweeping motion before shooting toward the planet Neolan had previously asked the Goddess of Niflheim to approach. The sudden maneuver disrupted Rosy’s attack before she could complete it.

"Following Sir Neolan’s commands, an unknown threat toward Sir Neolan has been detected. Using instantaneous movement of IDOM-05 to remove the threat." As the Goddess of Niflheim’s mechanical voice reached both Neolan and Rosy, their eyes widened.

A completely new holographic glass formed over the deck above them, cutting through Rosy’s hand without hesitation. Before either she or Neolan could properly understand what had happened, the spacecraft had already begun its next maneuver.

In that same instant, the IDOM-05 accelerated to a speed that surpassed the speed of light by several folds. Its movement carried it across the surrounding space before Rosy could launch another attack, and within that brief moment, it arrived near the black-and-brown-colored planet beside the one containing the Bleatron Ore.

WHOOOSH!

The IDOM-05 came to a stop with that sound, turning toward the woman floating far away from its position. Neolan panted heavily, having briefly lost oxygen during the attack, while his blurry vision shifted toward Rosy. ’Damn, I was almost dead there if not for the Goddess of Niflheim.’

He immediately channeled Qi throughout his internal body to heal any injuries caused by the sudden loss of pressure, then coated his body with Astrine Energy as an additional precaution. ’Now I can survive the zero pressure of space.’ After exhaling a long breath, he narrowed his eyes and watched what the woman would do next.

To his surprise, Rosy had already disappeared from her previous position and was floating in front of the IDOM-05 again. Her hand had completely healed, as though it had never been cut in the first place. "Tsk! Can’t you stay still? Damn that Goddess AI! How is she protecting you? Even if you are the hundredth rank in the Federation, she shouldn’t do that!"

Her beastman-like teeth clenched in frustration as she glared at the spacecraft, clearly irritated that her initial attack had failed.

Neolan watched her carefully, thinking, ’Seems like she’s hell-bent on killing me. Normally, I would have liked to fight it out and take her to my side for a better future, but...’ His thoughts paused as he turned toward the planet beside them.

’In a situation like this and her being a Ninth Evolution Astrine Blade user puts me at a disadvantage.’ He couldn’t afford to treat this as an ordinary confrontation, especially when his opponent possessed overwhelming speed and the ability to appear in different locations almost instantly.

He briefly considered using the weapons equipped on the IDOM-05 to kill her, but he doubted that the approach would work. Rosy seemed capable of teleporting through space, which could allow her to evade attacks before they reached her. ’Should I make the Goddess of Niflheim enter the fabric of space-time and remain there for a few minutes until she’s gone?’

He considered the possibility as another way to escape, but dismissed it almost immediately. Such a maneuver would consume a massive amount of the Astrine Energy stored within the IDOM-05, making it an impractical solution under the current circumstances.

While Neolan considered his remaining options, Rosy was also thinking about how to make the Goddess of Niflheim stop interfering in the confrontation. Both she and Neolan knew that the Goddess was only a projection of an AI, which could be present in any location wherever Earth’s current technological equipment remained.

However, despite being a projection, she retained the same authority and followed the same rules as the original AI, meaning Rosy couldn’t simply dismiss her as an inferior copy.

Rosy smiled as an idea came to her, "Goddess of Niflheim, I have a theory-" Before she could finish speaking, the Goddess interrupted her with her mechanical voice, "I apologize, but Sir Neolan holds greater importance than a mere theory at the current moment. His rank places him above whatever your unknown theory might be."

The moment Rosy heard that response, her smile disappeared, and she frowned as she lifted her wristwatch.

She tapped through several options on the holographic screen displayed above her wrist, checking the information available to her. When she reached a particular section, her eyes widened in disbelief. ’What? He’s thirty-ninth rank?!’ She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, especially since the last time she had checked, Neolan had been ranked one hundredth in the Federation.

Her teeth clenched as she looked toward the spacecraft again, realizing that his status had changed considerably since their previous information had been recorded.

"Regardless, you’re dying here. I can’t let a big fish like you slip from my grasp." Rosy spoke with renewed determination, her eyes fixed on Neolan as she prepared to continue the attack. She was clearly unwilling to abandon her target merely because the Goddess of Niflheim had become an obstacle.

On the other hand, Neolan had also been tapping through something on his wristwatch throughout their exchange. He finally lifted his head and grinned as he looked toward Rosy. "Are you sure you can do that, though?"

Rosy frowned at his remark, unable to understand why he had suddenly become so confident. However, before she could figure out what he had done, she felt the entire space surrounding her suddenly had been completely sealed.

Neolan grinned again as he watched her shocked and confused reaction. "Now then, Goddess of Niflheim, fire the Y-012 at her immediately!"