Chapter 112: Annihilating the Projection
After Gretel finished speaking, Gu Hang raised a critical question: “How do we defeat it? Are we supposed to fight a god-level primordial psionic entity?”
“No, it hasn’t reached that point,” Gretel continued, explaining, “I sensed that it’s still some distance away from tearing through the veil of reality and fully awakening. If nearly a million people in Revival City were to die horribly in the storm, such a massive psionic response would resonate within the ritual site and might truly pull it out of hell.”
“But to get close to this layer of reality, it still requires anchors. Its eight mental avatars are right here. What we need to eliminate are these mental avatars, in a soul-to-soul confrontation. Strong mental fortitude is the key to overcoming it.”
…
Gu Hang understood what Gretel meant.
Although she spoke about some difficult concepts, it seemed connected to the fundamental logic of the world. From past memories, he found some answers.
In the legal study of psionics, one learns that beneath the entire reality of the universe, psionics believe there is another layer—a universe of pure energy without matter, thought to be the birthplace of the physical universe, the foundation of existence, also called the ‘True Universe.’
It is theorized that tens of thousands of years ago, humans of the Golden Age mastered advanced technology and efficiently harnessed the energy of this True Universe. Endless energy gave rise to a brilliant civilization.
All of this ended with the birth of ‘Hell.’
Hell is the place where unusable energy and waste energy converge. It is filled with madness, destruction, and chaos.
Current psionic scholars generally believe that the True Universe now consists of two layers. The Astral Plane is the outer layer, an accessible ocean of psionic energy. The God Emperor constructed the Psionic Net to support the entire Astral Plane, enabling safe psionics to be born among humanity and allowing psionics to be used as an advanced energy source.
Of course, the theology of the State Religion does not share this belief. In their doctrine, the Psionic Net is the God Emperor’s divine realm established after his ascension. In this realm, the God Emperor blesses the humans of the present world. People should worship the God Emperor with pure devotion, and upon death, return their souls to the divine realm for transcendence.
The Mechanist Faction has its own theories as well, which we’ll set aside for now.
But regardless of disputes, the psionic energy originates from the Astral Plane, and the ascended God Emperor protects humanity.
However, Hell still exists, filled with chaotic, destructive, and insane energy.
According to Gretel, the ‘Primordial Fury Owl’ is classified as a powerful psionic entity that, for unknown reasons, fell into Hell. Now, due to the cultists’ ritual, it is about to tear through the veil of reality and manifest.
In each of the eight wind farms lies an avatar of the Fury Owl, essentially eight mental projections of the Primordial Fury Owl that have torn a small gap in reality, allowing a storm of chaotic psionic energy to surge forth.
By killing these eight projections within the spiritual realm, they could prevent the reformation of the Fury Owl avatars, stop the Primordial Fury Owl’s arrival, and ultimately resolve the storm.
How could they kill these Fury Owl projections?
“Touch the void,” Gretel provided a precise solution and explained further, “I initially wanted to examine the source, so… just challenging a projection won’t lead to that situation.”
Oh, so she had acted rashly after all.
“Is the projection avatar here dealt with?”
“No…” Gretel admitted awkwardly, “I no longer have the mental energy to destroy it after getting injured.”
Oh, so she had gone in headfirst and then couldn’t finish the job.
Didn’t that just mean she went in for nothing?
Gu Hang took a deep breath and decided…
“I’ll handle it.” Chaplain Rizo stepped forward. “I just need to touch it, right?”
“Yes,” Gretel replied, “as long as you don’t go too deep, simply eliminating that creature will suffice.”
“Understood.”
Chaplain Rizo reached out and touched the void.
A moment later, he withdrew his hand, looking somewhat weary and weak, though his voice was calm: “Mission accomplished.”
As his words fell, Gu Hang clearly saw that the void began to shrink at a visible rate, quickly disappearing.
Gu Hang was overjoyed!
Dawn was right before his eyes!
“We will go to the remaining seven wind farms immediately! We have less than three hours left; everything is still within reach!”
Seeing the Governor’s excitement, however, the Chaplain sighed, dampening his enthusiasm.
“Your Excellency, Governor,” Rizo spoke, “things may not be as simple as they seem.”
“What do you mean?”
“Projecting the soul onto the spiritual plane for combat is far more difficult than it seems. Defeating that creature was not very taxing, but the travel back and forth severely strains one’s spirit. In the short term, I can’t do it again. Otherwise, just projecting my soul alone would be enough to knock me unconscious, and I would need at least two days of rest to recover.”
Each person has a two-day cooldown after entering the spiritual dimension?
Gu Hang looked at Gretel.
“I am in a similar state.”
Rizo added, “It takes extreme mental resilience to withstand the pressure of soul projection. Even the sisters of the Saintly Lily would be at great risk. Among us, only the Phoenix Battalion members can endure this.”
At these words, the sisters of the Saintly Lily were displeased.
Several of them stepped forward:
“We can do it!”
“The will of the Saintly Lily is no weaker than that of the Star Warriors!”
“Leave it to us!”
They were filled with indignation, feeling insulted.
However, Rizo did not intend to provoke them, and even Gretel fell silent at this point.
Gu Hang observed everything and recognized that Rizo was sincere.
The Sister Superior was a headstrong fighter; if she were confident, she would not stay silent.
Clearly, she believed the same—that sending ordinary Battle Sisters to do this was extremely risky, which was why she kept quiet.
In the previous battle, she had already lost a sister.
Gu Hang couldn’t help but turn to Martins and directly make his request: “Battalion Leader, I need your help.”
Martins did not hesitate, “For the God Emperor, to eliminate the fallen psionic entities and save the imperial world, the Phoenix Battalion will not shrink from its duty!”
The Phoenix Battalion was indeed reliable!
How could I have considered replacing them? That was utterly unworthy.
But… there were only seven Phoenix Battalion members.
That was also a problem.
With Rizo exhausted here, only six Phoenix members remained, but there were seven wind farms to deal with.
Gretel looked somewhat ashamed. If she still had her fighting strength, she could handle one herself, solving the issue.
Alternatively, she could risk the sacrifice; if one Sister couldn’t manage it, they had ten Sisters—they could rotate, one of them eventually possessing the ability to eliminate a projection.
But faced with making that decision, she hesitated.
However, Gu Hang didn’t let her struggle with it: “I’ll take care of one myself.”
“That’s too dangerous,” Rizo advised him.
Gu Hang waved it off, firm in his intent.
Moreover, he believed that entering a purely spiritual realm, his psionic abilities might actually surpass those of the Phoenix Battalion warriors.
Afterward, they divided into teams and headed toward the other seven wind farms.
Apart from Rizo, the three remaining Phoenix Battalion members headed toward three sites, accompanied by Sister teams as backup. In the city, the remaining three Phoenix Battalion members, led by the bald Schneider, also received orders to head to three other sites.
They moved without ordinary troops.
Pobov and his team were commanded by Gu Hang to stay in the city and assist under Yan Fangxu and Osena’s coordination.
The remaining Star Warriors and Sisters advanced at full speed. With the help of power armor, they sprinted through the storm, moving as fast as vehicles.
The location Gu Hang was headed to was the furthest of the seven sites.
This arrangement was because he could fly, making him the fastest.
Whether it was misfortune or sabotage, he was struck by lightning twice on the way.
But it was no real problem.
Before the lightning struck, he sensed an abnormal psionic buildup through his Psionic Vision and dodged in advance.
Upon arrival, he found soldiers stationed there, surrounding the constantly reforming Fury Owl avatar in the massive crater left by orbital bombardment.
Gu Hang’s previous strategy had indeed worked.
According to Yan Fangxu’s command, several units reached the site only to face resistance from cultists. The number and quality of cultists were not very high; given some time, the soldiers should have been able to defeat them, making it easier to destroy the wind farm afterward.
However, during the battle, they received new orders and withdrew.
The cultists didn’t pursue them either.
Their mission was to guard the wind farm. If they couldn’t hold it, their goal was to delay as much as possible. While the retreat seemed odd, they were more pleased than puzzled.
Then, in their satisfaction, they faced an orbital bombardment.
Following the Governor’s order, the Quintet conducted 7×3 minimal-scale bombardments, avoiding the main battery and laser arrays and using only the secondary artillery.
Yet the impact on the ground was still devastating.
The bombardment’s immediate destruction exceeded half a kilometer, and the shockwave remained lethal at a kilometer. Even from their theoretical safe position nearly two kilometers away, the soldiers felt intense tremors.
Some homes on the city’s outskirts collapsed from the blast.
Fortunately, most people had gone to the food distribution points
, so casualties should have been limited.
When they returned after the three rounds of bombardment had ended, they found the wind farm had been obliterated. The Fury Owl avatar had already started reforming.
No hesitation—artillery fire began anew. The Fury Owl avatar, which had barely reformed, was promptly blown apart again.
They repeated this strategy, attacking each time the avatar began reforming, rendering it thoroughly battered.
By the time Gu Hang arrived.
He commended the troops and, through the communications officer, received the latest updates.
News arrived from the two nearest sites after eliminating Trico’s wind farm.
Two Star Warriors, including Battalion Leader Martins, had successfully destroyed the Primordial Fury Owl projections at those sites.
It was a good start, indicating that the plan was on track.
Without further hesitation, Gu Hang stepped forward and reached out to touch the void.
Suddenly, a pang of fear struck him, and a vast fog appeared before his eyes.
The fog came and went swiftly, dissipating within a few breaths. In front of him stretched a deep, downward-sloping path, seemingly endless, with rolling mist in endless hues.
Gu Hang sensed a strong allure, urging him to descend, yet simultaneously a deep terror, warning him that descending would bring unimaginable horror.
These two contradictory feelings intertwined within him, momentarily leaving him dazed.
A roar snapped him from his bewildered state.
Turning, Gu Hang saw an ethereal Fury Owl avatar, towering two meters high, strutting arrogantly.
So, it was you?
Without hesitation, Gu Hang unleashed a Soul Sever at it.
His psionic abilities remained intact in this ethereal domain. In fact, due to his proximity to the Astral Plane and even Hell, his psionic sensitivity was heightened, allowing him to cast more potent spells.
The creature’s foot was severed, and its arrogance vanished.
Steadfast will?
Perhaps battle nuns and Star Warriors needed that here, in the spirit realm, as their physical strength in this realm would depend on their mental fortitude when fighting a terrifying Fury Owl avatar in brutal combat.
But as a psionic, Gu Hang did not. He fought with spiritual attributes, and all his psionic spells worked here, even stronger.
One Soul Sever didn’t finish the Fury Owl avatar, but no problem—he’d keep slashing.
With lower psionic consumption and stronger spells, he could cast Soul Sever a hundred times if needed. He could flay this Fury Owl avatar slice by slice.
The creature didn’t even last fifteen strikes. Without touching Gu Hang, it was slashed into countless pieces.
Another mist spread before him. When it cleared, the real world appeared again.
And then, fatigue hit him hard.
As he left the spirit realm, his soul felt torn. He wasn’t injured, but if he re-entered that place soon, leaving it might indeed cause lasting harm.
He intuitively understood that this must be the cost of projecting his soul into a purely spiritual domain, as Gretel had described.
Fortunately, the cost was paid upon exit. If it were upon entry, facing a Fury Owl avatar weakened would have raised the difficulty significantly.