Independent Space—far from the battlefield.
Back in the safety of the pocket dimension, Ethan Vale finally had the breathing room to think. Outside the warped “window” of the Independent Space, New Star’s scenery smeared into a shifting kaleidoscope—half real, half illusion—like the world itself was struggling to stay coherent.
Silvermoon and the Dream Twins were waiting for him.
They weren’t watching the battlefield anymore. Instead, Silvermoon had fixed her gaze on the New Star Zone 1 Sanctuary (church), where the Blood-Red Nun’s influence was strongest.
“Look,” Silvermoon said.
Through the viewing frame, Ethan saw it: a line of handmaids—hundreds of them—shuffling toward the Sanctuary like sleepwalkers. Their faces were blank, their movements stiff. Most of them had swollen bellies, each step careful and slow.
“The hideout was right there the whole time,” one of the Dream Twins said, her voice cool with disbelief. “She hid inside their bodies.”
Ethan didn’t answer. His mind flashed back to the awful moment earlier—when they’d been dragged into that “womb” space, trapped in a nightmare that felt far too real.
Beside him, Silvermoon let out a tired breath. “No wonder the Sanctuary never found her. It wasn’t a place you could search. It was… a condition.”
The other Dream Twin grimaced. “I hate that I now understand what ‘giving birth’ looks like.”
Silvermoon raised an eyebrow. “Skye would know.”
“Skye is a dragon,” the twin shot back. “That’s not the same thing.”
“Tell that to Skye,” Silvermoon said, deadpan.
Ethan almost laughed—almost.
The scene shifted.
Two figures stepped out of the Sanctuary: Greed Wolf, and Zhuyuan Li—one of the Lava Lords.
They stood beneath the blood-red sun like actors on a stage, too calm for the apocalypse around them.
“So?” Greed Wolf asked, voice low. “You said you found her.”
Zhuyuan Li smiled as if they were discussing a dinner invitation. “I did. And I also found the clock that’s going to kill you.”
Greed Wolf’s eyes narrowed. “Explain.”
“You have three minutes,” she said, holding up three fingers. “Three minutes before the Blood-Red Nun’s ‘daughter’ is born.”
Ethan felt a chill run down his spine.
Zhuyuan Li continued, unhurried. “You’ve seen the handmaids, haven’t you? Seven or eight hundred of them. Pregnant. Heavy. Slow.” Her eyes gleamed. “Do you know what they’re carrying? Not children. Fuel.”
Greed Wolf’s jaw tightened.
“They’re the external wombs,” Zhuyuan Li said. “The Blood-Red Nun is using them to grow something impossible—something that will be born strong enough to devour you. Strong enough to tear through New Star’s final layer like wet paper.”
Greed Wolf’s hand drifted toward his weapon. “Then I kill her before that happens.”
Zhuyuan Li laughed—sharp and contemptuous. “With what? Your courage? Your little speeches? You don’t have the time. You don’t have the advantage. Not unless you do what I’m about to say.”
She leaned forward, voice sweet as poison.
“Kill the handmaids.”
The words hit like a gunshot.
Greed Wolf’s fingers curled into a fist. “They’re civilians.”
“They’re incubators.” Zhuyuan Li shrugged. “If you slaughter them, the ‘birth’ will be forced early. Premature. Weak. That’s your only window.”
Greed Wolf didn’t move.
Zhuyuan Li circled him, slow and deliberate. “You want to be a hero, right? New Star’s righteous champion.” She stopped in front of him and tilted her head. “So here’s your test, Qin Wen.”
She used his real name on purpose—an invisible knife between the ribs.
“Do you have the stomach to do what needs to be done?” Zhuyuan Li asked. “Eight hundred pregnant women. Eight hundred bodies. Eight hundred screaming mouths. Kill them… and you might live.”
Her smile widened.
“Refuse… and you die. And the Blood-Red Nun’s child is born at full strength. New Star ends. Everyone dies anyway.”
Greed Wolf’s breathing turned heavier.
Zhuyuan Li’s voice softened, almost gentle. “This isn’t about right and wrong. It’s about whether you’re worth anything when the world stops caring.”
The blood-red sun crawled higher above them, indifferent.
In the Independent Space, Ethan stared at the scene, his thoughts grinding.
This wasn’t a strategy meeting. It was an execution.
Zhuyuan Li wasn’t giving Greed Wolf a path to victory. She was forcing him into a choice that would ruin him no matter what he picked.
Silvermoon’s tone was flat. “If he kills them, he becomes a butcher. If he doesn’t, he becomes a corpse.”
Ethan didn’t look away.
Zhuyuan Li lifted her hand again—three fingers, then two, then one.
“Your decision, Qin Wen,” she said. “Kill the mothers… or die.”