The Antithetical Territory Field, also known as the AT-Field, is a unique defensive force field that Mizuki, as member of the Armored Soul Tribe—a branch of an undeath race in the Human Imperium, can manifest to counter virtually any conceivable threat that exists in the known and unknown universe. Depending on various factors such as Mizuki’s cultivation base, the avaible computational resources, power supplies, and his mental condition, the AT-Field can be maniputed into different, useful forms.

  When Mizuki was still integrated with the battleship, its sophisticated systems provided the necessary support to deploy an AT-Field capable of withstanding the immense entropic pressures of hyperspace, normalizing the dimensional ws within its embrace to that of Holy Terra’s. Under its protection, the ship’s interior can enjoy normalcy even if the outside is enveloped by entropic chaos.

  As hyperspace serves as the Imperium’s primary means of Faster-Than-Light travel, the AT-Field generated by an Armored Soul Tribe like Mizuki is not just a defensive asset—it is a mission-critical function, ensuring the survival of both the vessel and its crew during interdimensional navigation.

  In this instance however, Mizuki has maniputed his AT-Field into a spinning cone that functions and looks exactly like a massive drill, while the back of the drill is incessantly ‘rejecting’ the space behind, producing a pulse-based propulsion force.

  Although the ‘space’ appeared mostly empty, save for the swarms of flying parasites, the Astral Beast had learnt from its previous mistake of letting unknown variables shatter space and wound it. So now, the Astral Beast is actively rendering space unnaturally superstable. This stability acted as a spatial lock, making teleportation, ‘blinking’, hyperspace travel, or any form of instantaneous movement nearly impossible—particurly for Mizuki, who no longer had access to his supporting equipment.

  The environment's oppressive ‘pressure’ was far from ordinary. The very fabric of space exerted a resistance so intense that it felt as if Mizuki were drilling through an endless sea of metal ptes, with an atmospheric density capable of compressing mountains into solid rock ingots. Each centimeter of forward progress demanded exponentially more energy and effort than traversing kilometers in a standard environment, turning even the simplest motion into an agonizing test of endurance and power.

  In addition, an Astral Beast of this size and weight is generating its own gravity. There’s an escape velocity if Mizuki wanted to perform pnetfall. Fortunately, a smaller ‘pod’ body meant he could consolidate his AT-Field more effectively, avoiding the need to spread it thin as he had to when integrated with a battleship.

  The dual pressures of superstable space and the Astral Beast’s gravitational pull were relentless, threatening to mire him in pce. To counter this, Mizuki pushed the core reactor of his Mortal Shell into overdrive, yet even that immense power was barely sufficient to resist the Astral Beast’s oppressive spatial suppression. Realizing he could not afford to falter, he made the agonizing decision to ignite his cultivation base, sacrificing his strength to unleash a surge of raw strength to power through.

  With his AT-Field spinning like an unstoppable drill, the pod tore through the superstable space, pulverizing the parasites in his path into a gruesome slurry of flesh and blood. Each rotation of the drill brought him closer to freedom, grinding down the superstable space in a fiery spatial friction.

  Finally, Mizuki broke free of the Astral Beast’s gravity and the oppressive superstable space. The reduction in spatial pressure allowed him to accelerate further to accelerate instantly into supersonic speed, but the victory came at a grave cost. His once peak-stage Rank 5 Epic cultivation base had regressed to early-stage Rank 5 Epic, erasing centuries of hard-earned progress. Yet, despite the overwhelming loss, Mizuki mentally gritted his teeth and pressed on. The battle was far from over, and he refused to let the sacrifice be in vain.

  “As described by Lord Ancestor Grimsong Specter’s st message, each world in this gactic supercluster is extremely vast. This isn’t even a Great World, and I am only pushing through the atmosphere, but the distance I covered is already comparable to the diameter of Verdant Jupiter... yet I haven’t touched the surface.”

  It took him several Terra-standard days before he finally reached an atmospheric yer where there are no longer ‘freefalling’ astral beast parasites. At that moment, his cultivation base has already permanently fallen into Rank 4 Paragon and his AT-Field has become significantly weaker. This deterioration had rendered most of his low-grade electronics useless, reduced to little more than inert scrap metal due to the dimensional ws. Yet Mizuki had no time to ment his mounting losses. Steeling himself, he activated the only functioning long-range scanner left in his arsenal, determined to assess his situation and chart a course forward.

  The vast distance made the wait for sensor feedback agonizingly slow, but when the results finally came through, the data painted a grim picture. The world below had suffered catastrophic devastation, a testament to the unimaginable havoc wrought by the Astral Beast.

  The future seemed bleak.

  Once, sunlight had easily pierced through the world’s crystalline Dimensional Walls, bathing the surface in warmth and illumination. Now, that light was choked off by the Astral Beast’s colossal form and the ceaseless swarm of parasites encircling it. Their oppressive presence cast the entire surface world into an unbroken darkness, a void where hope struggled to survive under the shadow of despair.

  Preliminary estimates suggested that thousands of years had passed on the surface, allowing life to adapt to the perpetual absence of sunlight. However, the darkness had become a haven for the astral beast's parasites, which now roamed unchecked across the pnet.

  From his elevated vantage point, Mizuki could discern countless small but fragmented "isnds" of light scattered across the surface. Each isnd, vast enough to rival the combined ndmass of Holy Terra, appeared insignificant against the colossal scale of the pnet.

  Based on the sparse distribution of these illuminated zones, Mizuki calcuted that the encroaching darkness had likely consumed over 90% of the pnet's surface. The surviving pockets of light stood as fragile bastions in an ocean of shadow.

  Among the sources of light that captured Mizuki's attention were colossal, glowing trees that soared thousands of kilometers into the sky, their radiant canopies projecting vast bubbles of illumination into the surrounding gloom. These towering giants defied the darkness, standing as luminous beacons of life and resilience.

  Equally awe-inspiring were the enormous statues of deities, their divine forms emanating an otherworldly glow. These monuments seemed to draw strength from the literal gods they depicted, their divine armies locked in a ceaseless battle within the upper stratum of the world.

  Adding to the surreal ndscape were crystalline mountain peaks that glimmered with an ethereal light, their radiant forms pushing back the oppressive shadows. Each phenomenon was unique, a marvel unto itself, and wholly unlike anything Mizuki had ever encountered in his time as a Terran.

  ‘These light sources should function as the sun's repcement…’

  Mizuki hypothesized that in the darkness barely out of the reach of the beacons of light, there were countless numbers of Astral Beast parasites waiting to pounce on the boundary of light.

  ‘The civilization in this world seems to be capable of surviving under this grim condition. Long-range scanners indicate the energy level of those isnds of lights are too low to support rank 4 Paragons. At most, the lightsource itself is a rank 4 artifact or lifeform that is on the brink of reaching rank 5 Epic. A mountain cannot hold two mountains, so a second Paragon within that small space would only invite troubles. There's too little incentive for me to make contact with them as they might be after my technology as well...’

  At once, he started to look for an alternative nding zone. Specifically, locations with high mineral content, as minerals can be refined into warmachines faster compared to providing weapons and teaching it to the natives.

  It took him several Terra-standard days to find anything worth his time.

  His unrelenting search leads him into one of the smaller isnds of light, a mountain peak that holds a small structure. The obelisk’s peak shines with soft gold gleam. Its light had already dimmed, flickering like a candle in the night, being swept away by the cold wind, but it was still visible from his point of elevation.

  There's no need to soften the blow enough for any human inside to survive the impact as the pod contains no human to begin with. Still, Mizuki controlled his AT-Field to produce a pulse-based counterthrust force, ensuring his arrival won’t ftten the area and whatever is producing the light. After all, his pod is a literal orbital weapon.

  THUM! The rumbling of the escape pod making contact with the rocky earth was deafening, the impact caused a localized earthquake that might have announced his presence to the natives, but it wasn’t enough to completely obliterate the area.

  Psst! The internal air pressure of the pod is exhaled, revealing a figure cd in jet-bck 2.5 meter tall power armor. The suit was a marvel of engineering, its sleek lines and intimidating bulk hinting at the immense power it contained. Its surface was a deep, non-reflective bck, almost as if it absorbed all light that touched it. Faint hexagonal patterns were visible on the armor’s surface, their intricate details barely visible.

  As he dropped down onto the bck, tainted rocky soil, he examined the earth. Feeling the earthy grains between his hands, the artificial nerve endings on the armor grant feedback of the soil’s texture, granting him some insight upon this world.

  “The difference in Dimensional Laws will render my technology useless. It’s no wonder there’s little to no rank 3 and above parasites in these nds, the world itself is suppressing otherworldly creatures as they get closer to the surface.” He squinted his eyes.

  Despite not revealing its presence, Mizuki’s translucent AT-Field is protecting the mortal shell and the pod. Otherwise, due to the difference of dimensional ws, they would short-circuit and be rendered useless unless he adapted those machines into one that fits with this world’s dimensional ws.

  Currently, the rank 5 Core Reactor located on the center of his chest can endlessly produce energy as much as he wants, but due to the difference of dimensional ws, it suffers from various errors. Despite being protected by Mizuki’s AT-Field, his cultivation has lowered too much, to the point of being unable to completely isote the world’s dimensional ws. This caused the reactor to function in barely 2% of its original capacity.

  In addition, sooner or ter, he had to ‘turn off’ his AT-Field as his cultivation base was constantly being expended so that his Mortal Shell won’t become useless due to the World’s Dimensional Laws.

  Which means, he’s currently on borrowed time.

  Before preparing to head out, he took a set of weapons: a gunnce and its tower shield, from the pod.

  Almost at the same time, a group of giant insects that reached slightly over two meters tall made their appearance known in the periphery.

  ‘The astral beast parasites on the surface are significantly weaker compared to the ones above the skies. Just like me, they are extremely suppressed by the dimensional ws of the world, but their numbers are still a big problem until I can fully adapt my technology to this world’s ws.’ Mizuki muttered to himself as his sensors indicated their strength to be at least at the level of rank 1 creatures.

  Immediately, he changed his gunnce into Brightnce Configuration. The gunnce’s mechanical part shifted as additional hardlight substances augments it form into a mix of melee and artillery weapons. However, some of the hardlight substances failed in taking physical form as they melted into liquid hardlight. Once they make contact with the soil, it burns into gss as if the liquid hardlight is as hot as magma.

  ‘Tsk!’ Mizuki mentally clicked his tongue as one of his high-tech weaponry has already failed to function. In that instant, he spped the gunnce once more, changing into autocannon-configuration. The weapon’s mechanism shifted again, producing three rge rotating barrels and a gigantic bde that runs through the bottom of the weapon.

  Once the trigger is pulled, Mizuki rained down death and destruction with his autocannon that shoots Armor-Piercing High-Explosive rounds.

  Naturally, the damage each round caused is significantly less than he had expected as the explosives made by Holy Terra’s technology wouldn’t work perfectly in this world, but they were still enough to be lethal to the parasites. The oversized mutated insects weren’t even capable of getting close. The armor-piercing high explosive rounds might be too heavy for long-range engagement, but at this distance, its sheer raw firepower completely obliterates the myriad insect forms of the astral beast parasites.

  The feedback of using such a heavy weapon is too strong for any human but his Mortal Shell can easily wield the gunnce with one hand. In addition, the power armor has multiple supporting functions that include shock dampener and multiple robotic arms for assisting reloading, completely neutralizing the demerits of using such a complicated weapon.

  ‘I need to hurry before all traces of non-parasite life are gone.’ Mizuki produced an AT-Field under his boots, rejecting the space underneath it to produce a sudden burst of thrust force.

  Boom! A single step from an extremely weakened rank 5 Mortal Shell allowed him to accelerate him above the speed of sound. Each time he took a step, a deafening sonic boom left behind his wake.

  The mountain range is incredibly rugged in some areas, but each gram of the rock glistens in metallic gleam. There were signs of medieval structures and civilization, but they were destroyed, torn apart by the insect creatures. On the way into the source of light, he also saw blood, pieces of torn flesh, and probably whatever was left from the native inhabitants being eaten by the swarm.

  On the way, he was also blocked by groups of insects, but that’s not something a burst of APHE rounds can’t rectify.

  In less than 2 seconds, he reached the source of the light.

  It was a structure that seemed to be a 150-meter tall stone tower, with the shining lightsource being a 20-meter tall bonfire-shaped crystalline artifact located on top of the structure. There were swarms of insects trying to flood the base of the monolith as there’s an entry point that should allow human-sized lifeforms to reach the crystal from the inside of the tower, but whatever is guarding the door has been consumed as the swarm is trying to squeeze their way in.

  A quick activation of see-through sensors indicates that there’s still some non-insect lifeforms fighting on the high-side of the tower, close to the shining crystal. Mizuki also received strange readings that none of his sensors could make sense.

  “I might be able to save some of them.” Mizuki’s figure blurred once again as he used AT-Field empowered steps to move beyond the speed of sound. With the shield in front, his casual charge has become simir to that of an armored train’s. As stronger insects seemed to be repelled by the waning light of the crystal, there were no rank 1 parasites in the area, only rank 0 weaker insects. This meant any that blocked his path became meat pancakes and bloody mist.

  Once he’s inside the tower, a spiraling staircase id bare, den with insects of various shapes and sizes. They were mostly humanoid mantis with their rge bde-arms, but they still can’t hold a candle to Mizuki’s brutal charge.

  Less than a few seconds, he reached the topmost chamber while turning the insects into meat paste.

  In that stone room barely lit by torches, there was a group of short humanoid with dark gray skin. The leader of this group of short people has his bloody face covered with thick, white facial hair. His thick arms held an axe each, they were sshing about, splitting open a humanoid mantis’s head. Behind him, the remaining dwarves protect a group wounded, some of them missing their limbs or having their belly gutted and their intestines spilling all over the pce.

  With a couple of sweeps of Mizuki’s gunnce in a speed that wouldn’t turn everyone into a meat paste due to the sound booms, he instantly cleared the remaining insects as they posed no threat to his current self.

  It was only after every insect was dead that he managed to see the mantis bdes piercing through the dwarf leader's abdomen.