Chapter Ninety: The Pyramid

At any rate, the first-class battleship aircraft carrier of the Goblin Empire was enormous. Even after suffering Sun Licheng's fatal blow, it still managed to hold out for a while.

Taking advantage of that moment, Commander Ritte reached the escape pod before the carrier crashed, boarded a special flapping-wing craft, and fled from the overturning warship.

By then, Sun Licheng had already exhausted his most devastating attack. Shielded by the blaze and explosions filling the sky, Commander Ritte escaped smoothly.

With their commander gone, the Goblin Empire army fell utterly into chaos. Leaderless and disoriented, they were soon split apart and surrounded by the Dark Holy Fighters and the insects. An hour later, the war was over.

Ritte's escape carried him straight back into his own mind.

"Cut the mental link with Sun Licheng immediately!"

Leaping from the plane, Ritte shouted at the puppet servant beside him, panic flooding his eyes.

The servant nodded and hastened away, but soon returned with very bad news: "Commander, I am sorry. I have no way to sever the mental link with Sun Licheng."

"What?"

Ritte was stunned. This had not been part of his plan at all.

Then he suddenly remembered: all his previous experiments had simply erased the other party outright. He had never tested the unlocking function under emergency conditions. And then he recalled that, to prevent escape, the connecting passage had been specially equipped with a locking mechanism.

"Ah..."

Having understood everything, Ritte threw his head back and let out a wretched cry to the heavens, despair etched into his eyes.

As the saying goes, those who court death will find it. Because of his greed, the device originally meant to seize other people's brains had become a prison for both sides, turning this war into a death match. But did he still have any confidence in defeating Sun Licheng now?

Of course not.

After howling for a while, Ritte regained his composure. A fierce light flashed in his eyes. Clenching his fists, he resolved that even if he died, he would give Sun Licheng a brutal lesson.

Having made up his mind, he jumped back onto the flapping-wing plane and flew toward the depths of his own mind.

Deep within Sun Licheng's mind, on the battlefield, everything was already over. The corpses and wreckage had vanished without a trace, and the once-sky-darkening battleship aircraft carriers and the goblin ground forces were long gone. Behind him stood the upgraded Dark Holy Fighters and the insects.

The rise of his subordinates confirmed something for Sun Licheng: the war within the mind was neither illusion nor isolation. These followers were real beings as well, even if they could exist only within his own consciousness.

By now, the little demons had fully become Dark God Fighters, while the sacred garments of the leaders shone with a brilliance like stars in the night sky.

Looking at those sacred garments, Sun Licheng suspected that if this group gathered together, they might very well defeat Athena's regular Saint Seiya legion.

Unlike the changes in the monsters' sacred armor, the insects' transformation was reflected more in their size and in their chitin.

The Scorpions, those wolf-like insects, now bore vividly colored patterns. Their originally rough, hard bone shells had become smooth, yet far more massive and dense. Their jawlike mouths and claws were clearly sharper, making them deadlier than before.

The plasma insects had grown larger, their bodies now a dazzling golden hue, and they moved much faster as well.

As for the flying beetles, they had fully achieved long-distance flight. Their bright wing cases, lit by the sun, looked as though they had been coated in a layer of mesmerizing glaze, beautiful beyond measure.

"From the frozen mountain, wind and rain rise in a yellow dawn; a million armored heroes cross the great river.

Tiger crouches, dragon coils, greater now than in days of old; heaven and earth overturn in mighty pride.

Better to pursue the remnant courage and chase the cornered foe than to covet fame and imitate a false king.

If Heaven had feelings, it too would grow old; the true path of the world is change and desolation."

After grandly reciting the Great Leader's poem, Sun Licheng gave a sweeping gesture in the sunset. Countless Dark Holy Fighters and insects formed neat ranks and advanced slowly toward Ritte's mind.

In the sky, warships roared; on the ground, fire blazed. Sun Licheng's army and Ritte's forces collided fiercely within Ritte's mind.

At first, Ritte had hoped to rely on the abundant energy on his side to create more troops and drown Sun Licheng's forces in sheer numbers. But he had not expected the enemy to have long since undergone a complete transformation, their combat power overwhelming his own.

What frightened Commander Ritte even more was that Sun Licheng's side grew stronger with every passing battle. Though his own troops poured out without end, the enemy only multiplied as they fought.

"No way... could he be absorbing my energy? How is that possible!"

Ritte thought of a possibility, and despair immediately filled his heart.

He had guessed right. If it were anyone else, they would already have been worn down and killed by such an endless torrent of energy. But who was Sun Licheng? He was the monster who had driven the mighty deity emperor into a frantic flight for his life. His Taiji vortex could even merge with divine power; fusing goblin crystal energy into it was hardly difficult at all.

Each defeat Ritte suffered in the war was, in truth, delivering vast amounts of energy to Sun Licheng, making the power within Sun Licheng's mind ever stronger. If that fellow appeared before Sun Licheng now, Sun Licheng would want to throw his arms around him and kiss him. Such a transport captain with such internationalist spirit was truly hard to find these days; he absolutely had to be protected well!

"What do I do? What do I do?"

Ritte paced back and forth within the virtual space, cold sweat covering his forehead. From time to time, news of another defeat on the front lines reached his ears.

Suddenly, he thought of a way.

"Haha, Sun Licheng, let's see if I don't wear you down to death this time!"

Having found an answer, Ritte said viciously, his face twisted with menace.

Soon, the main base within Ritte's mind began to seal itself shut. Then countless heavy layers of armor piled up around the outside, gradually forming a four-sided pyramid. As energy continued to pour in, the pyramid thickened rapidly.

What was astonishing was that the pyramid had not the slightest seam, let alone a door or window. In short, it was nothing but a giant turtle shell.

Leading his troops, Sun Licheng fought all the way across his own mind, sweeping away countless enemies and warships. But soon he noticed something strange: enemy reinforcements had vanished.

He found it odd, but at such a moment there was no room for hesitation. After some thought, the army pressed onward.

The scenery within Ritte's mind was even more magnificent than that of Sun Licheng's own. Sun Licheng guessed that this must have been the appearance of the Goblin Empire in its former glory. Looking at the endless farmland and the towering structures rising among it, even as an enemy he could not help but offer sincere admiration for the Goblin Empire.

"It would be wonderful if there were no war. Unfortunately, all of this has been destroyed."

With a sigh in the air, Sun Licheng beat his wings and followed the troops.

"What is that?"

Beneath the sunset, a vast pyramid appeared before Sun Licheng. Looking at the towering structure that seemed to pierce the clouds, Sun Licheng was deeply puzzled.

"My lord, we found neither door nor window!"

The scouts who had been sent out returned by flapping their wings. They brought everyone bad news.

"That fellow Ritte must be hiding inside this giant pyramid. I have to say, he is truly decisive."

Watching the pyramid grow thicker still, Sun Licheng could not help but sigh inwardly.

He understood now: Ritte intended to wage a war of attrition and wear him down to death.

"Fire!"

With Dongguo's shout, countless plasma insects suddenly contracted their abdomens, and enormous pillars of light slammed fiercely into the pyramid's outer wall. Stones rained down from the sky like hail.

Under the fierce bombardment of energy, Sun Licheng was disappointed to discover that not only had the pyramid's outer walls failed to weaken, they were actually thickening further. The plasma insects' attacks were utterly useless.

With no doors or windows, the Dark Holy Fighters and insects, dark as storm clouds, could only encircle the pyramid helplessly, unable to do a thing to it.

"It's a stupid iron turtle plan, but damn it, it really works."

Looking at the pyramid, lit by countless flashes of attack until it seemed like a fairy-tale world, Sun Licheng cursed bitterly.