Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

The headless beastmen seem like a group of barbarians, but in reality, reaching the level of a medium-sized [Society] indicates that their preceding civilization was at least equivalent to a Star Cluster Level civilization.

Far surpassing some of the civilizations in the Galaxy Eye Meat Grinder.

However, since civilization became a noun title, it no longer serves as an adjective, and these white-haired, red-eyed headless beastmen, despite displaying qualities far superior to any Narrative Civilization regular army, still cannot change their savage and bloodthirsty nature.

The young, robust beastmen infantry, figures as if they were towering buildings, rely on forming line formations to mercilessly tear apart the creatures covered in Void Crystals.

They have no ranged units; even though they hold unwieldy firearms larger than city gates, these beastmen cannot conceive any strategies for remote fire suppression, instead charging forward, stuffing the gun barrels into the mouths of the Void Behemoths, and with a loud roar, shattering the brains into fragments.

Some hunched, elderly beastmen, significantly weakened physically, have transitioned to a role similar to that of Spellcasters.

— More precisely, the role of a Magic Tank.

These elder beastmen are clad in heavy leather armor, wielding in one hand a flail, mostly composed of three different attribute hammers, and with each blow, sparks and smoke fill the air, radiating a blinding flash outward.

In the other hand, they hold a magic artifact fashioned from an unknown skull, their eyes shooting lightning, and as their low chants, akin to overtone singing, resonate, an aura of wilderness solemnly surfaces on the earth.

Crack, crack...

The wilderness crosses through, and the white-haired beastmen's muscles bulge, veins pop, and their already robust bodies swell instantly larger.

"WrrrrA!"

Inspired, the beastmen erupt in full frenzy, their attacks growing increasingly fierce, ruthlessly slaughtering every nearby creature, and dying under their axes offers no salvation.

Amidst the battle, the beastmen deployed a new combat unit: a kind of hound with heads blooming like petals, incredibly slender-bodied, like a pencil, writhing rapidly like snakes as they run.

Under the cover of tall beastmen warriors, these snake hounds easily infiltrated the ranks of the Void Monsters, and whenever a Void Monster fell, they would instantly open their heads, splitting into fragments, entering through wounds, and with a shudder, extract and consume all the flesh, leaving a mummy.

But then, these dried corpses explode, and the snake hounds that inherit the deceased's physical traits grow robust and mighty, actively hunting their targets and enemies, then devouring them.

The Void quickly reacted, hurriedly reallocating forces for defense, and many snake hounds were eliminated and slain.

But it was too late.

The army summoned by Xides was still just an army.

Yet he faced a self-sufficient civilization city-state with [Society] level mobilization, production, and organization capabilities.

Despite appearing reckless, the beastmen actually adopted a strategy similar to Leoz: defeating the opponent in the most efficient, simple, and straightforward manner while producing a large number of corpses to nourish the snake hounds' growth.

When three snake hounds, hundreds of meters tall, as if stitched from countless living creatures, appeared on the battlefield, nothing else mattered.

Mountainous bodies writhed ever forward, hundreds of heads spinning along with the body, spewing corrosive slime and plasma clusters outward, the dense barrage shattering all delusions, and even just the immense body radiating destructive heat every second was enough to kill weaker enemies.

Li Aozi wasn't idle either.

While the headless beastmen showcased their power, Li Aozi had already liberated twenty-three social institutions, yet most of the released civilized beings were far less powerful than the headless beastmen. Some technological civilizations, lacking production tools and environment, despite strong organization, revealed the limitations of their intrinsic power.

Nevertheless, for these beings torn from the [Society] collective, bewildered by the Void 'invasion' and danger, the sheer will to survive was enough to unleash formidable combat power.

Xides used Mana Burn to constrain him, and Li Aozi had no recourse.

Xides leveraged hierarchy suppression to counter his attribute stacking, and Li Aozi could do nothing.

After all, Kappa (10) was already the strongest at this level, a switch wouldn't help. If Li Aozi could substitute Xides' main body in this battle, it was a great gain.

Truly engaging in full-scale combat, Li Aozi wouldn't be an opponent to the adversary. Not even substituting Leoz would help.

Xides discovered he couldn't overwhelm Li Aozi, and resorted to using infantry tactics to bully his solitary stance—Li Aozi was not fazed.

No matter how much Narrative boasts, its essence is simply the civilization's limit, and the mobilization of Void Monsters requires media. No individual can relinquish self-conception and fully embrace the collective.

But for a civilization, the limit for [Society] is merely a baseline.

Crack!

The last institution shattered, and above Li Aozi's head suddenly appeared a crystal fortress, from which numerous crystal-structured fighters swiftly flew out, strafing and bombing the ground-based Void Monsters.

"The institution formed by the nerve endings of the [Purple Moon Society] boasts impressive combat power. Apparently, in the past life—oh no, Xides' past life underestimated these [Societies'] strength."

Li Aozi waved his hand, standing on the ground, locking eyes with Xides upon the throne:

"Do you still intend to fight? A friendly reminder, I still have over two hundred institutions remaining."

As they conversed, a crystal mech whipped past above Li Aozi's head, bringing a Void Wild Bull down, raising its chain saw, and efficiently severing its head.

The tide had turned.

Now, the side with the numbers advantage belonged to Li Aozi.

Xides can continue fighting, and Li Aozi can endure no matter how long it takes; after all, these aren't his people dying.

These civilizations liberated from [Society] weren't tainted by the Pathway. The lands, resources, and culture they brought along perfectly complemented the Dragon Satellite's native deficiencies, and in the future, they could become the best method to counter the Void Narrative.

Drive the wolves to devour the tigers.

In Xides' view, this was a strategy of driving wolves to devour tigers.

Anyway, Li Aozi had already won enough by now.

Clearly, just being an Iota Rank (9), Xides couldn't kill him, and his main body was already lost in it. Now his consciousness was on the projection, and he wasn't sure of the situation.

If this fight continued, whether or not Leoz could be killed was unknown—but his main body was definitely gone.

Moreover, for the Void, his task this time was already a failure. The Dragon Satellite had spent eighty years without fully integrating into the Grand Narrative, and now it was just because of the silent disconnection that the Void hadn't called him to account yet.

But what about the future?

Narrative is not the Starry Abyss; the rules of the Void are the survival of the fittest, and no one pampers him.

On the other hand, Li Aozi couldn't kill him either.

No matter how you put it, Li Aozi was just an Iota Rank (9), and the silent disconnection was also a double-edged sword for him, giving him no chance to submerge into the Starry Abyss.

Li Aozi was well aware of this.

What's more, deep down, he was also clear that this time he merely set Gio Zieou up early; otherwise, if that stupid bull knew Xides' situation,

this scene would be very strange to imagine.

Gio Zieou: "I'm here to find the Starry Abyss Seed."

—"You don't need to look for it, he has fallen into the Void."

Gio Zieou: "What! But how could this happen? He must have suffered some hardship, right!?"

—"I took it from him."

Gio Zieou: "Why?"

—"Because Leoz knew the Starry Abyss wronged the Abyssal Deities' efforts and still wanted to use players to strengthen control over each layer of Starry Abyss, so for the freedom of the majority, Leoz took it from him."

Gio Zieou: "Boom!"

Involving the strategic intent of the Starry Abyss, this was a topic that couldn't even be touched.

If Gio Zieou truly discovered Xides, Li Aozi estimated that just for his crimes, he would be executed immediately.

Unfortunately for Xides, he didn't know that the Void had tricked him.

Gio Zieou's body was swallowed by the Void Narrative, and in the future, he probably would have no chance to appear.

Everything is under control.

Likewise, by copying his past life work, Li Aozi found his own work was much easier to copy.

Although Leoz's approach was radical, it was indeed worth referencing.

Unfortunately for Xides, he had no work to copy anymore.

'It's always like this.'

Xides clenched his fist.

'From the beginning, I knew nothing about Leoz, and I was hit by the information asymmetry, and it's still the same now.'

Facing an opponent directly, he couldn't kill Leoz.

In a war of attrition, if he continued like this, he would soon turn his opponents into a united front of former [Social] creatures.

To be blunt... he played his Dragon Satellite hand this poorly, and the Void Narrative probably wasn't pleased.

Was it because he wasn't strong enough? No! He was very strong, and as soon as his main body arrived, he could destroy Li Aozi directly.

But no matter how strong he was, he was still hit by the information asymmetry.

Was it because his forces were weak?

No reason, the Void he backed was already a powerful presence in the narrative.

Then was he stupid? No, Li Aozi or Leoz had made many mistakes along the way, and he had seized those opportunities.

He wasn't stupid, but he still fell to this situation.

There was no problem with martial force, power, or intelligence, but just because Leoz took everything away from him, he could never catch up.

Xides was unwilling.

"Actually using [Social] weapons... Leoz, you traitor!"

He clenched his fists, looking at Li Aozi with nothing but resentment in his eyes.

"What did I do wrong that I must confront you face to face? Clearly, I should have been the protagonist of this world; the Starry Abyss chose me, Fate chose me, I am Li Zi, I am truly the transmigrator, and you are just a failed tyrant usurper! Why must your discontent with the Starry Abyss spill over onto me?"