Chapter 589: The Descent of Shatterstar
"Oh..."
Yaya, usually so gentle and obedient, seemed strangely reluctant to part with the fruit.
Ethan chuckled. He hadn’t expected the little girl to guard her treasures so fiercely.
"What is this?" Celeste asked as she examined the red fruit Yaya had passed to her. It looked exactly like a peach—not the kind of fruit some mistook it for, but a true peach, the kind that grew heavy on trees and could be dried into sweet apricots.
"A Youth-Preserving Fruit," Ethan said with a grin. "Legend claims it can heal any scars on the face and restore your appearance to that of an eighteen-year-old. Even if you’re seventy or eighty, you’ll look as young as you did at eighteen."
"Really?" Celeste blinked in disbelief. "There’s actually something that miraculous?"
Every woman, no matter how much she might pretend otherwise, cared about her appearance. Celeste had always borne her scars with a kind of quiet defiance, but this—this was different.
"When have I ever lied to you? Go on, eat it," Ethan urged, though in truth he wasn’t entirely sure himself. All this came from Micah’s bragging; Ethan had never actually seen the fruit’s effects.
Celeste studied the fruit in her palm, then shook her head slowly. "Not yet... I’ll wait until after I see Leo." Her cheeks flushed slightly as she spoke the name.
"Ha! Fair enough. If Leo takes one look and runs away screaming, consider this fruit my consolation gift. But if you two... well, then think of it as my wedding present."
Ethan had already guessed what she was thinking, and he found it both amusing and moving. Leo had truly captured his senior’s heart. His eyes glimmered mischievously as he considered whether to give Leo a warning. After a moment, he dismissed the thought. If the man couldn’t face Celeste as she was, then he didn’t deserve her. Better to let fate sort it out.
"Alright, let’s get moving," Ethan said, his tone sharpening, his eyes suddenly cold and purposeful.
"Moving?" Celeste frowned, unable to follow his sudden shift.
"The Dissenters and the Originalists—neither faction is worth keeping alive. The Dissenters were Arthur Finch’s hidden loyalists. The Originalists... they’re the ones who threatened Williams. I never imagined they were behind the kidnapping of his wife. And worse, the decision was unanimous—every last one of the Ninth Division members approved it."
His words dripped with a cold fury that sent a chill through the room.
Celeste exhaled heavily. "I suspected as much. It’s one of the reasons I came to you. I’d uncovered pieces of it myself, but I didn’t want to believe it was true. The Ninth Division is rotten to the core. That department should be dissolved completely."
She hadn’t expected both the Dissenters and Originalists to be dancing on the strings of Director Vaughn. One faction operated in the open, the other in secret, yet both served the same master.
"Not entirely," Ethan said. "Don’t forget the Unaligned. Those who’ve lost faith in the Ninth Division—they could rebuild it into what it was meant to be."
Celeste considered this, then nodded in reluctant agreement.
"Our mission is clear," Ethan continued. "Eliminate the Dissenters and the Originalists completely. Whatever’s left can be handed to the Unaligned. It’s time to end this."
As he spoke, something dark rippled out of him. A murderous aura rolled across the room, sharp and suffocating. Celeste shivered involuntarily, staring at him in shock. How many lives had he taken to carry such a killing presence? No ordinary man could radiate that kind of intent.
Ethan caught her reaction and quickly pulled it back, forcing the bloodlust deep down.
Celeste steadied herself, though her face still betrayed unease. "Ethan, I know how strong you are now, but don’t underestimate them. The Originalists and Dissenters are not easy opponents. Worse, if they realize their people are being hunted, they’ll vanish into the shadows. That’s the real danger. Operating unseen, they could tear society apart. We need to be more careful, more strategic..."
Her voice was calm and steady, her reasoning sharp. She was trying to pull him back from the edge.
"Heh... then we just won’t let them spread word," Ethan said with a grin. "Come on, senior, let me show you what your junior can really do. Shatterstar... descend!"
Whoooom...
The sky above began to churn. White mist swirled as if pulled by some invisible hand, opening a gap among the clouds. Celeste’s breath caught. She couldn’t see anything tangible at first, only the strange ripples in the air, but she could feel subtle disturbances brushing against her senses. Even as a Soul-Wielder—ever since she had absorbed Doe’s spirit—she detected nothing solid. Whatever was approaching was cloaked, perfectly hidden.
"Reveal yourself," Ethan commanded. He didn’t need to speak the words aloud to control Shatterstar’s stealth, but in front of Celeste, he couldn’t resist the urge to show off, like a child flaunting a treasured toy.
Whoooom...
The disturbances she’d barely felt before suddenly surged into a tidal wave of presence. A colossal shape tore its way into view—a towering mech, gleaming with sleek, high-tech armor.
"Ah..." Celeste gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. For someone who had faced spirits and horrors most mortals could not imagine, this was still beyond anything she had ever expected. A machine like this was... otherworldly.
"Let’s go!" Ethan called.
In the distance, several children who had been playing turned at once and began running toward him. Before they reached him, their bodies blurred, dissolving into beams of white light that streamed into the center of Ethan’s forehead.
Yaya lingered for a moment beside him, her gaze darting back toward the fruit still in Celeste’s hand. Her lips pressed into a pout before she, too, transformed into light and vanished.
With a deep hum, Shatterstar’s chest armor shifted. A boarding ramp extended outward, descending slowly to the ground.
"After you, senior!" Ethan said, bowing slightly in mock courtesy. "I don’t have a luxury sports car to chauffeur you in, so you’ll have to make do with this mech instead."
The childlike playfulness in his tone brought a rare smile to Celeste’s face.
To Ethan, she wasn’t just a superior. She was family. If Morzan had been the one who gave him rebirth, then Celeste had been the one who had believed in him when no one else did. In his previous life, when he had been mocked and bullied, she had protected him. During combat training classes, when others provoked or humiliated him, it was Celeste who had stepped in and beaten his tormentors down.
Even the nickname she had given him—"Weakling"—hadn’t been meant to demean him, but to shield him. Looking back, he could see that clearly now. She, and Leo as well, had made his miserable former life bearable. In this life, if those two people he respected most could find happiness together, he would feel nothing but joy for them.
They boarded Shatterstar together. Celeste, wide-eyed, looked around the cockpit like a villager stepping into a royal palace. Every surface gleamed with strange light and intricate panels she couldn’t begin to understand.
Meanwhile, Ethan slid into the virtual control pod without hesitation.
"Shatterstar," he said, his consciousness flowing outward. "Take off. Destination: Dragonvault Ridge, Ashhorn Mountains. Also, begin real-time tracking and surveillance. Target list to follow."
Instantly, names and faces filled his mind, streaming from the depths of memory. He had extracted them all through Soul Reading when he had broken Director Vaughn’s mind. The nine council members of the Originalists. Every Dissenter operative. All of Vaughn’s known associates. He fed the list into Shatterstar’s system as naturally as if he were breathing.
The mech’s engines thundered. Within minutes, Shatterstar was hovering high above Dragonvault Ridge. Ethan stepped out from the control pod and motioned for Celeste to join him. Together, they prepared to descend into the Whitmore family’s Hidden Territory.
But then—movement below.
At the entrance to the Whitmore family’s pocket dimension, the portal flared, spilling figures out into the open. One after another, shadowed silhouettes emerged, stepping into the world outside.
Ethan froze, narrowing his eyes.
Why were they coming out now? And where were they headed?