Generally speaking.

  When a star with eight times the Sun’s mass reaches the end of its life, the fusion reactions within its core shut down.

  If, at that moment, the mass of the core exceeds 3.2 solar masses, an unimaginably violent gravitational collapse occurs.

  The collapsing core passes through the degenerate and neutron phases; but if even neutron degeneracy pressure cannot resist the overwhelming inward crush, the stellar heart implodes further, and at its center a primordial black hole is born.

  Once a black hole forms, it immediately begins consuming everything within its event horizon.

  During accretion, the outer layers of matter are hurled outward in violent jets, while matter closer in is drawn past the horizon, spiraling downward. As it falls, it is superheated, blazing with torrents of infrared and electromagnetic radiation, before vanishing forever into the abyss.

  If the core’s mass falls short of that critical threshold, then after the terminal supernova—triggered by collapse—it does not become a black hole. Instead, it stabilizes as an object midway between a white dwarf and a black hole: a neutron star.

  Thus, apart from black holes, neutron stars are the densest objects in the universe.

  White dwarfs, though compact, still lie within the density limits of ordinary matter. By contrast, in neutron stars, pressures grow so extreme that even electrons are crushed into atomic nuclei, merging with protons and creating neutrons. Electrons vanish, atomic volumes collapse by hundreds of billions, and the star becomes a colossal mass of neutrons packed tightly together.

  In effect, a neutron star is nothing less than a giant atomic nucleus—its density equal to the density of nuclear matter itself.

  At its very core, compressive forces rise to inconceivable magnitudes, billions of times more intense than at the Sun’s center.

  Ordinary matter’s atomic nuclei are composed of protons and neutrons, themselves made from three quarks each.

  A proton is (u, u, d)—two up quarks and one down quark.

  A neutron is (u, d, d)—one up quark and two down quarks.

  But in the crushing depths of a neutron star’s heart, where density defies imagination, even neutrons are torn apart. Their structure collapses under the pressure, transforming via (ud → su) reactions into quark clusters of (u, d, s)—up, down, and strange quarks.

  This exotic phase is known as Strange Matter.

  Such high-temperature quark-gluon plasma, born only in the most extreme environments, carries immense forces of attraction and repulsion—so immense they can surpass even their own gravitational density.

  In other words: Strange Matter’s gravity is paradoxically repulsive, capable of violently distorting the fabric of spacetime itself.

  It is precisely this strange property—the ability to warp spacetime curvature—that allows for the possibility of vacuum light-speed warp.

  And at this very moment:

  A fragment of this same Strange Matter—burning with impossible heat and pressure, a shard capable of destroying the entire Earth—rested quietly on Seraphine’s slender, pale hand. Its tyrannical essence was utterly subdued, unable to stir in the face of her will.

  “...Wonderful power.”

  Her eyes narrowed, a faint glint flashing as she studied the blazing cluster in her palm. Extending a filament of Divine Will into it, she began her careful analysis.

  She sought to uncover the hidden operational laws of Strange Matter, then reproduce them perfectly through mastery of the fundamental forces.

  Having already unraveled the four fundamental forces, Seraphine was increasingly convinced: this was the true omnipotent path.

  As long as a substance or phenomenon existed in the universe—once she grasped its principles—she could manifest it at will.

  With that single thought, the spacetime across a hundred thousand miles around her warped in unison:

  Sometimes expanding, sometimes collapsing.

  Sometimes spiraling into cords, sometimes condensing into rings.

  As these intricate changes unfolded, every passing second unleashed torrents of high-energy radiation, carrying mysterious forms of power that burst forth from the surrounding spacetime itself, streaming outward in every direction.

  This radiation polarized the once-sparse particles of matter, weaving them into vast clusters of ethereal, lattice-like electrical clouds, transforming the sky across a hundred thousand miles into a surreal, paradise-like vision.

  Yet beneath this breathtaking brilliance lay immense peril.

  For if a planet were ever to stray into this zone, the chaos of spacetime currents would tear it apart at the most fundamental level of its matter, shattering it in an instant into an asteroid belt seething with countless high-energy charged particles.

  But Seraphine, seated calmly within the ten-thousand-mile turbulence, ignored such trivial dangers.

  Ten minutes later, she had already unraveled the physical laws and mechanisms of Strange Matter. With her mastery of spacetime, curvature, and dimensional structures, she used Strange Matter as a gateway, methodically decoding and assimilating knowledge until she fully grasped the complete operational process of warp.

  “First, the Negative-Energy Casimir Device.”

  Dispelling the Strange Matter in her palm with a wave, Seraphine extended a finger and tapped lightly against the void before her.

  Hum—

  The surrounding spacetime quaked violently as countless high-energy particles erupted into existence.

  Obeying her will, they clustered together, assembling into an unimaginably intricate construct—semi-transparent, glowing with a piercing blue-white radiance: the Negative-Energy Casimir Device.

  “Next, simulate the effects of Strange Matter, synchronize with the Casimir Device—and generate the warp bubble.”

  Instantly, the space around her expanded, rippling visibly to the naked eye.

  Amidst the surging waves of distortion, a ten-meter sphere of twisted space formed, radiating a soft, otherworldly glow, enclosing Seraphine within.

  To ordinary sight, she appeared simply enshrouded in a Lorentz-shaped bubble.

  But from a higher-dimensional perspective, Seraphine stood within a “thin” three-dimensional surface, like a calm sea. Suddenly, a perfectly circular wave surged outward—convex ahead, concave behind—encapsulating her in its curvature.

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  This wave-layer was the warp bubble.

  Compressing space before it, expanding space behind it, the bubble carved a directional axis of motion.

  Inside, space remained perfectly flat. Seraphine herself did not move in the conventional sense—rather, she was carried along by the bubble.

  Thus, within warp, inertia held no sway. Objects inside the bubble were untouched by acceleration or deceleration.

  The only “fuel” required for this process was Negative Energy, conjured through Strange Matter.

  Her eyes flashed with calm certainty.

  “It can begin.”

  Seraphine gazed into the vast universe ahead, and for the first time in a long while, a ripple stirred faintly within her heart.

  Because this time, she was not relying on the Sentience Realm for superluminal travel.

  This was the true faster-than-light journey she had long yearned for.

  Hum—

  The massive reservoir of Negative Energy that cocooned her warp bubble surged into activation. In the next instant, she slipped past Pluto, surging toward Earth—billions of kilometers away.

  In the void of space, there is no warning when a warp bubble cuts across your path.

  There is no evasion.

  For its velocity exceeds light itself; even so-called “light beams” mean nothing against it.

  Worse still, the Negative Energy compressed at the curved leading edge of the bubble is lethally destructive to ordinary matter.

  It can slice through planets as easily as a blade through silk.

  Thus, by conventional reckoning, a vessel capable of warp travel requires no weapons.

  Perhaps this explains why the Pyramid ship carried no armaments.

  It was the weapon.

  The most absolute weapon in the cosmos.

  At a hundred times the speed of light, Seraphine streaked billions of kilometers across the system, halting only upon reaching the ragged edge of the asteroid belt.

  Unlike traditional methods of travel, warp did not recognize inertia. The bubble was untouched by acceleration, and thus halting or decelerating was as simple as adjusting the contraction and expansion of spacetime before and behind it.

  Warp was paradoxical that way. Incredibly difficult to master—its entry barrier impossibly high. Yet once grasped, its usage was almost disarmingly simple.

  And yet, Seraphine did not stop out of fear of colliding with the endless tumbling asteroids.

  Such trifles could never concern her.

  No—during those few minutes of flight, she had dissected warp itself. She had traced every subtle principle and physical effect, studied its deepest operational logic from beginning to end.

  Now, she intended to cast aside the temporary devices that constructed the drive and generated the bubble.

  Instead, she would directly manifest the warp bubble through her mastery of the four fundamental forces.

  Pure, physical warp.

  Her eyes glimmered coldly.

  “It can be used directly.”

  With a single thought from Seraphine—

  Casimir space, Negative Energy, immense attractive and repulsive forces... every physical condition necessary for warp coalesced at once, each operating in flawless sequence.

  The warp bubble, once reliant on cumbersome machinery and Strange Matter “fuel,” now formed in an instant, encasing her in a radius of ten meters.

  A heartbeat later, the bubble ignited once more. Carrying with it a surge of curved space heavy with Negative Energy, it thundered toward the asteroid belt—tens of thousands of kilometers away—where a vast sea of gray-white meteors drifted.

  “......”

  The vacuum remained silent.

  Then, disaster descended upon the Solar System’s asteroid belt, a region spanning 150 million kilometers in both width and thickness.

  Without warning—without even the hint of gradual development—a narrow “tunnel” a trillion kilometers long suddenly ripped open at its core.

  Every meteor along its path—hundreds of thousands of bodies, large and small—was instantly obliterated.

  As Seraphine’s warp bubble pierced through, each was annihilated in a flash by the Negative Energy cluster leading her passage.

  They disintegrated into raw thermal energy, which radiated outward, searing everything above, below, left, right—evaporating, melting, collapsing, exploding into storms of charged particles.

  A trillion beams of high-energy radiation burst forth, along with tens of millions of incandescent molten spheres and streams of fluid matter.

  That narrow “tunnel,” once thin as a line, swelled a thousandfold, ten thousandfold, a blazing scar across the void.

  From afar, it seemed as though a luminous needle of optical fire had skewered the very heart of the asteroid belt—terrifying and magnificent all at once.

  And along that needle’s path, piercing obliquely through the belt, the warp bubble shot forward. At ten thousand times the speed of light, it would cross to the Earth-Moon Lagrange point L1 in a single second.

  Exactly so. Seraphine, having mastered warp and elevated it to this unimaginable velocity, arrived there in but a heartbeat.

  “...Feeling.”

  From sixty-five thousand kilometers away, her Divine Will swept over Earth in a single breath. A faint thought stirred within her mind:

  “Ayla’s function can be refined further.”

  The instant the thought arose, her figure blurred. She crossed tens of thousands of kilometers in a flash, descending directly upon Emberlight.

  Ashara, Imperial Palace.

  Hum—

  A figure stepped gracefully from a swirling spatial vortex.

  Seraphine herself.

  Yet before she could begin enhancing Ayla, the Minister of Finance, steward of the empire’s economic affairs, approached in haste, his face clouded with dread.

  The moment his eyes fell upon her, his expression collapsed. He fell to his knees, trembling as he spoke:

  “Your Majesty, forgive this unworthy servant. The policies you enacted two days ago—【Universal Wage Subsidy】【Universal Work Hour Reduction】【Universal Double Rest Days】【Abolition of the Real Estate Industry】【Universal Housing Distribution】【Mandatory Price Stabilization】... and others—”

  “What of them?”

  Seraphine’s gaze brushed over him, calm and cutting.

  “Is there a problem?”

  With just a single glance, every cell in the Minister of Finance’s body felt as if it were about to rupture. He collapsed instantly, trembling on the floor, whimpering softly as he forced himself to speak through clenched teeth:

  “Your Majesty, at present the average monthly income of Emberlight’s one billion citizens is 5957. If every person is to receive an additional 10,000 in subsidies each month, indefinitely, then many will simply stop working!

  Your decree that all state-owned and private enterprises must grant four rest days per week, and that working hours on workdays not exceed four hours, will cripple Emberlight’s labor capital!

  You have also ordered that every real estate company shut down at once, and that all housing be distributed free of charge, one hundred and twenty square meters per person. This… this industry is one of the empire’s main pillars. Many professionals are already lining up to throw themselves off rooftops. Without real estate as a foundation, the empire’s economy cannot remain stable!

  And lastly, you command that commodity prices remain fixed, without fluctuations. But this… this contradicts all previous economic mechanisms! The economy cannot function like this!”

  As he rambled on, his voice grew agitated, tossing out tedious jargon—“soaring prices,” “excessive Auril issuance,” “universal resignation,” “financial collapse,” “Emberlight instability.” His words piled up, dull and lifeless.

  But Seraphine, in high spirits, only smiled faintly:

  “Don’t waste so many words. Tell me, have you and your people already clarified the scope of 【Ayla】 and the newly emerging fusion energy projects?”

  “Uh…” The Minister froze, hesitated, then answered: “Yes, we have clarified them. Your subject understands Your Majesty’s intention, but… this requires time and process.”

  “Ah.” Seraphine turned away. Her Divine Will surged outward, instantly covering the entire globe, beginning to refine and reform the countless microscopic machines that composed 【Ayla】.

  While working, she glanced again at the kneeling minister and spoke slowly:

  “You believe what I’m doing is irrational? That I’m naive? That the progression of a society cannot happen this way? Isn’t that what you think?”

  “This…” The Minister dared not respond. He only bowed lower, silent.

  Seraphine sighed softly, shaking her head. “I recall that you were once nothing more than an ordinary community worker, repairing anti-theft doors and electrical wiring. And yet, after becoming a minister for only a few days, you’re suddenly so concerned with the fate of the empire. You’ve adapted to this role rather quickly.”

  The Minister shivered, his head pressed even lower.

  “Now think carefully,” Seraphine continued. “If you were still that cropped-hair citizen you once were, how would you feel about these new policies?”

  “…Your subject would be overjoyed,” the Minister whispered, raising his head with caution.

  Seraphine nodded. “That’s enough.”

  Her gaze softened, her voice gentle. “By doing this, my citizens’ lives will be comfortable. Their days will be filled with warmth and sunlight. Of course, they will respect me more, worship me even—but these are not the true reasons behind my actions.”

  The Minister, startled by the clarity of her words, looked up in confusion. “Forgive my ignorance, Your Majesty. I do not understand the deeper purpose of these policies. Please, I beg you—enlighten me!” He knelt again, forehead to the ground.

  Seraphine’s lips curved into a playful smile. She chuckled lightly.

  “The reason is simple: I do it because I wish to. As for the consequences…”

  Her expression shifted—reminiscent, joyful, hollow, pitying, and amused all at once—as she slowly said:

  “This world, to me, is nothing more than a toy. Even if it were to shatter, I could restore it with a single thought.”

  The Minister froze, his body stiff. An icy dread spread through his chest.

  “Good.” Seraphine waved her hand dismissively. “Go back to your duties.”

  “Yes.” The Minister kowtowed again, rising to his feet with visible fear. “Your Majesty has poured yourself into these policies. Your subject will see to their smooth implementation.”

  “Poured myself into them?” Seraphine gave a quiet laugh, shaking her head.

  The Minister bowed and left the palace. Though his steps carried the surging vitality of a lion or tiger, there was no trace of martial skill in his movements.

  He, too, was clearly one of the beneficiaries of Ether’s recovery.